Ducati Gresini Italian rider Enea Bastianini celebrates after winning the Aragon MotoGP on Sunday. Picture: AFP
Enea Bastianini won the Aragon MotoGP with a last lap overtake on Sunday, after drama at the start as world champion Fabio Quartararo crashed out.
Bastianini shaded Francesco Bagnaia after a nerve-jangling duel over the closing laps to deny the factory Ducati rider a fifth straight win by four-tenths of a second.
With Quartararo the victim of first lap mayhem, Bagnaia moved to within 10 points of Yamaha’s defending champion with five races remaining.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro took third at the end of a breathless 15th round of the MotoGP championship after overtaking Red Bull KTM rider Brad Binder late in the race.
Binder, who started from 10th on the grid, made a brilliant start to move up to second early on before having to settle for fourth place in the end. Binder’s best finish since his second place in the season opening race in Qatar.
The 13 points he earned in Aragon helped the South African consolidate seventh place in the MotoGP title race with a total of 128 points. He trails Frenchman Johann Zarco by five points, and Australian Jack Miller by six points.
Brad’s younger brother Darryn Binder finished 18th on his Yamaha.
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Six-time world champion Marc Marquez’s hopes of a dream MotoGP return after 112 days out turned into a nightmare. It was Marquez’s Honda that Quartararo clipped, sending the hapless Frenchman slithering across the track.
Seconds later Honda’s Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami also hit the deck, after contact again with Marquez, who was forced to retire with damage to his bike.
Marquez, who was back for the first time since the Italian MotoGP after further surgery on the right arm he injured in 2020, was forced to retire with damage to his bike.
The next race is in Japan on 25 September.
To see the MotoGP title standings, click here.