Bagnaia Triumphs in Emilia Romagna Sprint as Championship Battle Intensifies

Emilia Romagna MotoGP: Bagnaia narrowly beats Martin in a thrilling sprint

Bagnaia's championship lead diminishes following an error, but he secures sprint victory at Misano for revenge

Francesco Bagnaia turned his pole position into a win at the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint race by holding off Jorge Martin, narrowing the championship gap to just four points.

After Martin defeated him in the sprint at Misano two weeks prior, Bagnaia seized the opportunity when the Pramac rider made a late error, allowing him to take the lead on the eighth of 13 laps.

After taking the lead, Bagnaia maintained his position ahead of Martin and managed to hold off the championship leader, finishing just 0.285 seconds in front at the finish line.

Martin’s lead in the championship has been reduced to a mere four points as they head into Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Enea Bastianini secured the third position aboard the other factory team Ducati, while Marc Marquez finished in fourth place riding his Gresini Ducati, having started from seventh on the grid.

In a similar fashion to the San Marino GP sprint, Bagnaia struggled to launch from pole position as effectively as Martin, who quickly took the lead at Turn 1 while riding for Pramac.

To make things even more challenging, Brad Binder of KTM, who started in fourth place, overtook Bagnaia to claim second position as they approached Turn 1.

Bagnaia swiftly overtook Binder on the approach to Turn 8, and Bastianini did the same to the KTM racer soon after.

During the second lap, Bagnaia closed the gap on Martin, reducing his lead by a few tenths of a second. By the beginning of the fourth lap, only half a second separated them.

Although Bagnaia managed to gain on Martin during the final section of the lap, he couldn't overtake and nearly lost control of his Ducati at Turn 5 on lap seven when he experienced a front-end wobble on the kerb.

The incident didn't impact him significantly, as he promptly resumed his pursuit of Martin. However, it wasn't until the Pramac rider made an error at Turn 13 on the following lap that Bagnaia managed to overtake.

Martin took a wide line through Turn 13, allowing Bagnaia to slip through. The world champion then held his position firmly as they approached Turn 14.

Although Martin faced a late warning for exceeding track limits and continued to push hard in the closing laps, he was unable to prevent Bagnaia from securing his fourth sprint victory of the season.

Bastianini showed impressive speed towards the end of the sprint but ended up in third place, unable to catch up to the leaders. Marquez finished in a distant fourth, with Tech3’s Pedro Acosta trailing behind him.

Following his rapid initial performance, Binder eventually dropped positions and finished in sixth place, just ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

The last points in the sprint race were secured by Marco Bezzecchi of VR46 Ducati and Franco Morbidelli from Pramac.

Maverick Vinales led the Aprilia riders by finishing in 10th place, while Luca Marini was the highest-placed Honda rider, securing 16th position.

During the sprint, no riders retired from the race, but Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Joan Mir (Honda) received long lap penalties due to consistently going beyond track boundaries.

Complete Results of the 2024 MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Sprint Race

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