Fighting fourth from Marc Marquez ignites the Spanish GP crowd 01.05.2022: Gran Premio de Espana MotoGP 2022 Round 6 It might not have been the podium he was aiming for, but Marc Marquez showed he’s ready to fight with a spirited ride to fourth as Pol Espargaro collected 11th place. Crowds at the Gran Premio Red B

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Gran Premio de Espana
MotoGP 2022   Round 6





It might not have been the podium he was aiming for, but Marc Marquez showed he’s ready to fight with a spirited ride to fourth as Pol Espargaro collected 11th place.


Crowds at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España were back to their best as the flocked to the hills of the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto from dawn. Pushing 60,000, the home fans were wanting a show and the 25-lap MotoGP race certainly didn’t disappoint.



Initially launching off the line well, Marc Marquez found Aleix Espargaro in his path and had to alter his trajectory through the opening corner but quickly passed the Aprilia rider. A three-way game of chess would quickly emerge between Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and Miller as the trio tested each other for the majority of the race with a podium finish in view.



The powder keg would ignite in the closing laps, Marquez attacking Miller and moving into third place with just five laps to go and with Miller so strong on the brakes, Marquez knew that attacking through the fast Turn 5 would be his best option as their chess game escalated.




From there it was a brawl as Marquez, Miller and Espargaro battled – an incredible save from the #93 at the final corner allowing Espargaro to just break away. A fired-up Marquez refused to let the moment hold him back as he fought until the very end with Miller, pushing his Honda RC213V to the limit and sending the crowd into a frenzy as he left long black lines around the track as Marquez looked to get past Miller again.



13 points in his pocket, Marquez moves up two positions into ninth overall in the championship and sits 45 points behind defending World Champion Fabio Quartararo.



Pol Espargaro once again executed a great start to the race and made up a handful of positions from 13th on the grid in the opening corners. Running wide at Turn 5 on the opening lap left Espargaro with some work to do and he became entangled in a race-long battle with Brad Binder and Oliveira. Taking 11th place, the #44 had hoped to achieve more after showing promising pace during the weekend but the rising temperatures of Sunday left Espargaro unable to conjure his speed.



The Repsol Honda Team will now remain in Jerez for the first in-season test of the year, a brief but important Monday test at the 4.4-kilometre-long track. The objective for both Marquez and Espargaro is to find the speed and feeling they had during the winter tests and return to consistently battling at the front of the field.   




Marc Marquez  93
FOURTH  
“Today I gave my maximum and achieved the maximum. I saved my energy through the whole weekend to be ready for Sunday because I’m still not in the condition to do a whole weekend at 100%. It’s the Spanish GP, I had to give it everything on race day.


At one point in the race, I thought maybe the podium was possible, the key point was overtaking Miller and stopping Aleix because he was faster than us. This is what I tried to do but then at the last corner I lost the front and the rear but fortunately the Spanish crowd were there to pick me up and save the crash! We don’t give up; we keep pushing and now we prepare for an important Monday test.”         

    
       
    
Pol Espargaro  44
11TH  

“The grip was really low today with the temperature and in conditions like this I suffer a lot more, more than my teammate and more than other riders. In the first lap I almost high sided at Turn 5 and I lost some positions, but to recover in MotoGP is really difficult.


Fortunately, we have a test tomorrow and we need to get to work to return to what we found during winter. We have to work from the moment we are in and find solutions to the problems we are having. Patience is key here, the good times will come but we need to keep our heads down and work.”         

    
       
    
Gran Premio Red Bull de España Race Results

1    BAGNAIA Francesco     62    ITA    25    Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati    41'00.554
2    QUARTARARO Fabio     20    FRA    20    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha    0.285
3    ESPARGARO Aleix     41    SPA    16    Aprilia Racing    Aprilia    10.977
4    MARQUEZ Marc     93    SPA    13    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    12.676
5    MILLER Jack     43    AUS    11    Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati    12.957
6    MIR Joan     36    SPA    10    Team Suzuki Ecstar    Suzuki    13.934
7    NAKAGAMI Takaaki     30    JPN    9    LCR Honda    Honda    14.929
8    BASTIANINI Enea     23    ITA    8    Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati    18.436
9    BEZZECCHI Marco     73    ITA    7    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati    18.830
10    BINDER Brad     33    RSA    6    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    20.056
11    ESPARGARO Pol     44    SPA    5    Repsol Honda Team    Honda    20.856
12    OLIVEIRA Miguel     88    POR    4    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    23.131
13    MARQUEZ Alex     73    SPA    3    LCR Honda    Honda    25.306
14    VINALES Maverick     12    SPA    2    Aprilia Racing    Aprilia    27.358
15    MORBIDELLI Franco     21    ITA    1    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha    27.519
16    MARINI Luca     10    ITA    0    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati    29.278
17    DOVIZIOSO Andrea     4    ITA    0    WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team    Yamaha    35.204
18    DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio     49    ITA    0    Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati    35.361
19    RINS Alex     42    SPA    0    Team Suzuki Ecstar    Suzuki    38.922
20    GARDNER Remy     87    AUS    0    Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing    KTM    43.378
21    SAVADORI Lorenzo     32    ITA    0    Aprilia Racing Test Team    Aprilia    44.299
22    MARTIN Jorge     89    SPA    0    Pramac Racing    Ducati    1'07.681
23    BRADL Stefan     6    GER    0    HRC Test Team    Honda    DNF
24    ZARCO Johann     5    FRA    0    Pramac Racing    Ducati    DNF
25    BINDER Darryn     40    RSA    0    WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team    Yamaha    DNF
    
    


       
    
Rider Standings


1    QUARTARARO Fabio     20    FRA    89    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha
2    ESPARGARO Aleix     41    SPA    82    Aprilia Racing    Aprilia
3    BASTIANINI Enea     23    ITA    69    Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati
4    RINS Alex     42    SPA    69    Team Suzuki Ecstar    Suzuki
5    BAGNAIA Francesco     62    ITA    56    Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati
6    MIR Joan     36    SPA    56    Team Suzuki Ecstar    Suzuki
7    ZARCO Johann     5    FRA    51    Pramac Racing    Ducati
8    BINDER Brad     33    RSA    48    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
9    MARQUEZ Marc     93    SPA    44    Repsol Honda Team    Honda
10    OLIVEIRA Miguel     88    POR    43    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
11    MILLER Jack     43    AUS    42    Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati
12    ESPARGARO Pol     44    SPA    35    Repsol Honda Team    Honda
13    MARTIN Jorge     89    SPA    28    Pramac Racing    Ducati
14    VINALES Maverick     12    SPA    27    Aprilia Racing    Aprilia
15    NAKAGAMI Takaaki     30    JPN    21    LCR Honda    Honda
16    MORBIDELLI Franco     21    ITA    18    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha
17    MARQUEZ Alex     73    SPA    16    LCR Honda    Honda
18    BEZZECCHI Marco     73    ITA    15    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati
19    MARINI Luca     10    ITA    14    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati
20    DOVIZIOSO Andrea     4    ITA    8    WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team    Yamaha
21    BINDER Darryn     40    RSA    6    WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team    Yamaha
22    GARDNER Remy     87    AUS    3    Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing    KTM
    
    
       
    
Team Standings

1    Team Suzuki Ecstar    125
2    Aprilia Racing    109
3    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    107
4    Ducati Lenovo Team    98
5    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    91
6    Pramac Racing    79
7    Repsol Honda Team    79
8    Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    69
9    LCR Honda    37
10    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    29
11    WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team    14
12    Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing    3
    


Constructor Standings


1    Ducati    131
2    Yamaha    89
3    Aprilia    83
4    Suzuki    80
5    KTM    76
6    Honda    57
    


 Repsol Honda Team - MotoGP, also photos