Pecco Bagnaia toasts maiden MotoGP victory at Aragon

Pecco Bagnaia finally claimed his maiden MotoGP win in a sensational race at Aragon.
Pecco Bagnaia celebrates winning the Aragon Grand Prix with Marc Marquez and Joan Mir.Pecco Bagnaia celebrates winning the Aragon Grand Prix with Marc Marquez and Joan Mir.
Pecco Bagnaia celebrates winning the Aragon Grand Prix with Marc Marquez and Joan Mir.

The 24 year-old Ducati Lenovo Team rider rode the race of his career to hold off six-times premier class world champion Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda, at his home track at Aragon.

From the lights it was pole-setter Bagnaia who led into turn one followed by Marquez, and right up until three laps from the chequered flag Marquez seemed happy to play the waiting game.

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However with three to go the former champion had his sights set on victory and made no less than seven attempts to win, but no matter what he tried the young Italian had an answer.

On the last lap Marquez had one final attempt at turn 12, but ran wide. It was all over and Bagnaia crossed the line 0.673 seconds ahead of Marquez.

Reigning champion Joan Mir came through from seventh on the grid to claim his fifth rostrum in 2021, finishing third on the Ecstar Suzuki.

Bagnaia, who moved in to second in the title race behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo - eighth at Aragon - said. “A lot of emotion today. I’m so happy. We worked so hard to achieve this result.

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“Every time we were close before something happened. It was not easy to stay in front of Marc at this track.

“The last four laps were tough, and I couldn’t wait for the race to finish because he kept passing me. In the end, we did it. It is a dream come true.”

Runner-up Marquez added: “I pushed hard all race but on the last three laps I really tried everything.

“I knew it would be really difficult, fighting against the Ducati is hard because they brake very late and accelerate very well plus today, Pecco was riding in a perfect way.

“It was a great battle with him, I enjoyed it a lot.”

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Red Bull’s KTM Raul Fernandez rode through the pain barrier to win the Moto2 race in front of his home fans.

Only days after breaking a bone in his right hand the 21 year-old was unstoppable as he romped home a clear winner from teammate and championship leader Remy Gardner with Augusto Fernandez completing the rostrum.

Pole-setter Sam Lowes led early in the race but dropped to second before crashing out with nine laps of the race remaining at turn seven. John McPhee finished 20th in his Moto2 debut.

Leopard’s Dennis Foggia claimed a victory over Tech3 KTM’s Deniz Oncu in a dramatic Moto3 race at Aragon.

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Only 0.041 seconds separated the pair at the chequered flag with Ayumu Sasaki completing the rostrum.

Pedro Acosta still leads the championship despite crashing out with four laps to go. It meant his main rival Sergio Garcia could close the gap in the championship but the Spaniard crashed out of second on the final lap.

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