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On the one hand it was the first Iberian Grand Prix of the season, on the other, the sixth winner of the season in the seventh race.
Relief reigned in the KTM camp after things didn’t go according to plan in San Marino: Espargaró was the best in 10th place. “We knew there was more to our machine than we showed last week,” said team principal Mike Leitner.
When he crossed the finish line, Espargaró had little reason to be happy. Only in the pit lane did he notice that Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who was in second place, was lined up behind him due to a three-second penalty. “We were very lucky today,” said Espargaró, beaming with joy, who finished third for the second time in three races.
Italian tears
The race was painful for the Italian fans. First, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), the big crowd favorite, was kicked out of the race early. With six laps remaining, leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) buried his dreams of his first MotoGP victory on gravel.
In the overall championship standings, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) defended his lead despite finishing eighth, six points ahead of Quartararo. Brad Binder is ranked eighth best KTM rider. For the South African, Misano finished after two races.
In Moto3, Attnang-Puchheim’s Maximilian Kofler did not pass 27th when Romano Fenati won. The 20-year-old had worn the tires too fast after an early mistake.
