Ducati’s Enea Bastianini says that his contentious overtake on Jorge Martin was his “only possibility” to take a home MotoGP victory at Misano in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Bastianini was fighting with championship leader Martin on the final lap of the race when he pulled a late move into Turn 4 to take the lead and would cross the line as the eventual winner. 

The Italian rider, who was born less than 20 kilometres away from the circuit, has hailed his victory as “special”, and said that it came after analysing a lot of data following the Sprint.

“It was a special Sunday,” Bastianini said to MotoGP.com.

“Yesterday I worked a lot. At 10pm, I was inside my box looking at my data to be competitive today.

“In the end, this morning my confidence was nice. I was confident also for the race.

“Jorge pushed a lot all race and his riding was super nice, with a lot of strong points and nothing less. 

“In the last lap, I saw a bit of space in Turn 4, I went inside directly.

“At the end he closed the line a lot and I braked more than my expectations, but I crossed the line and won the race.”

‘It was the only possibility for me’ says Bastianini on Martin move

The race-winning overtake came with some controversy, as Martin was pushed out wide by the Ducati rider during the move.

The stewards didn’t investigate Bastianini’s move following the race, a decision that has sparked debate amongst the riders, though Bastianini, insisted that it was his only chance at taking the victory.

“It was a very difficult overtake but when you have the chance to win the race, you have to do it,” said Bastianini.

“Yes I was a bit on the limit but at the end it was the only chance.

“Without this possibility, it was impossible for me because around the rest of the track he was super.

“It was the only possibility for me and I made it.”

Riders react to Bastianini’s controversial Misano move

While Bastianini insisted that his overtake was the only way to pass Martin, the rest of the grid seemed split on whether the move was fair.

Marc Marquez said in the press conference that the move was “not good for the championship” and that it should’ve resulted in a drop of one position for the Ducati rider.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was also angry at the stewards’ call saying he didn’t understand their decision to not give a penalty to Bastianini.

“I don’t understand what the Steward panel is doing,” said Espargaro via Crash.Net.

“Apart from the action, I’m a little bit worried, because the message they are sending to all of the riders is that you can do whatever you want.”

On the other hand, Bastianini’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia – as well as Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco – defended the decision, describing it as “normal” and fair racing.

READ MORE: Frustrated Jorge Martin says Enea Bastianini Misano MotoGP overtake was a ‘bit too much’

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A frustrated Jorge Martin felt that Enea Bastianini’s last-lap Misano MotoGP overtake for the lead was a “bit too much.”

The Pramac rider was leading before Bastianini made an ambitious move down his inside at Turn 4, which consequently forced Martin out onto the run-off.

While rejoining the track, Martin showed his frustration with hand gestures and decided to bring the bike home safely and secure the 20 points for his championship hopes.

The overtake resulted in no further action from the stewards, which gave Bastianini the race win at his home Grand Prix.

Post-race, Martin stated that the overtake the factory Ducati rider made was unjust.

“I think the manoeuvre maybe was a bit too much because he pushed me out of the track and I couldn’t fight back,” he said.

“Afterwards I did some gestures because I was a bit hot, but anyway. I think I was the strongest, I deserved the victory, but it’s okay. I will try again [in the] next one.

“I think there was no room to make that manoeuvre. There is not a lot of sense to keep talking about it, because it won’t change anything.

“But for sure I think I deserved that victory. [If] he made a move, at least do it clean and don’t touch me.”

Martin apologises for his actions

In an interview with DAZN later on in the day, Martin apologised for his hot-headed actions on track.

“Obviously Enea deserves the win, he was there until the end. But after leading so many laps and being thrown off the track, it’s not what I expected.

“But that’s the way it is. There’s not much to comment.

“I’m not really happy with Enea’s overtake, but it is what it is. But I didn’t like the way I reacted.

“My reaction was unnecessary and I apologise for my gesture in the heat of the moment. But I still don’t think the overtake was fair.

“It doesn’t matter what I say. I’m going to get criticised from all angles.”

While the 26-year-old was still unhappy with the overtake, he made it abundantly clear that the stewards were inconsistent in their decision-making.

“I exited quite good from corner three. I closed the line so no one could go into this line. So for sure if he was in, I [had to] pick up the bike and we even touched,” he said.

“If he would stay on the track, [then] okay I went wide [and] that’s okay. But he was outside.

“We speak sometimes in race direction but it’s not always clear and it’s not always constant.”

Martin has a 24 point lead in the standings

Following a crash from his title rival, Francesco Bagnaia, the Spaniard now has a 24-point lead heading into the Flyaways.

Martin has not won a Grand Prix since his success at Le Mans, but his consistency has given him the upper hand on his title rival.

The Spaniard will be looking to win his first premier-class championship and become the first rider to win with a satellite MotoGP team in the new era.

A potential championship means he would take the number #1 plate off Bagnaia and Ducati to Aprilia, its biggest rivals in the teams’ standings.

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Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia says that his crash at Misano was “out of our control” and has blamed Michelin for another tyre issue in MotoGP.

Bagnaia had been overtaken by both championship leader Jorge Martin and eventual race winner Enea Bastianini in the early stages of the Misano race after mistakes from the Italian.

However, he looked to be getting back on terms with the duo after setting consecutive race lap records, but lost the front on Lap 7 at Turn 8 and crashed out of his 100th GP. 

“After the start, I said ‘OK, I can set my pace and I can control the gap’,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com

“I was losing a lot of time in all the accelerations. I’d lost the rear in the warm-up lap in the last corner, then I lost the rear in the first lap in corner 13. 

“The rear tyre started to work after 15 laps, something incredible!

“I was already having some issues with the front locking since the start of the race so even when the rear tyre started to perform with 15 laps in and set the fastest lap of the race two times in a row, I still tried to be as careful as possible, especially under braking,” he said.

“I started to push, but without using too much the front because I wasn’t having a good feeling with the front,” 

“I was braking 18 or 20 metres earlier than on my fastest lap and I lost the front without angle.”

Bagnaia puts blame on Michelin after Misano crash

Bagnaia was quick to find a source of blame for his crash in Misano, and said that the Michelin tyres had once again cost him a good result in the race.

The Ducati rider also referenced Aragon, where he struggled with a tyre issue during the sprint but said that it could “happen to others” at some point too.

“It’s impossible to lose the front like this if you are in dry conditions. 

“Everything was quite strange today, but it happened to us twice in the last three Grand Prix, so maybe it will happen to others in the next one.

“You work very hard. You are the fastest, the strongest. You know that your potential is to win the races. 

“And then for something that is out of our control, you do results like this,” 

“It’s easy to say that I could have finished third, but when you have your potential, when you have your pace and you are in control with your pace and then you crash… It’s a shame.

“So I’m very frustrated and angry for that because it cannot happen in our championship. But it is what it is.”

“We will work again like always. And we will try to win, but surely sometimes we need a bit of luck.”

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Enea Bastianini earned Ducati its 100th MotoGP win after a controversial final lap move on Jorge Martin in Misano as Francesco Bagnaia crashed out.

Bastianini took victory ahead of championship leader Martin after Bagnaia fell from third, allowing Martin to extend his lead in the riders’ standings to 24 points. 

Martin got the best start off the line, beating Bagnaia into Turn 1, but the double reigning world champion was able to swoop around the outside to take the lead of the race.

Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder almost collided on the main straight after their strong starts as Bastianini stayed third with Binder fourth.

Binder resumed his battle with Pedro Acosta from the sprint race, but crashed out on the second lap at Turn 4.

Martin looked to have the pace to challenge Bagnaia on Lap 2 and attempted a move for the lead, but Bagnaia was able to get the cutback to retain his lead. 

Martin again had a chance at an overtake at Turn 7 and he took it – Bagnaia attempted to cutback once more but a mistake on the corner exit caused his bike to get out of shape and allowed Martin to get away. 

Martin looked to break from the Ducati duo and set a new race lap record as he extended his advantage to just under a second.

Bastianini seemed to have the strongest pace earlier than anticipated, and was able to force a move on teammate Bagnaia to take second as he attempted to charge after leader Martin.

The race fell into a bit of a lull in the middle, as the top ten remained in position, but Bagnaia appeared to have something as he started closing the gap on the top two by setting lap record after lap record. 

Bagnaia was still pushing to the limit, and while attempting to close the gap out to the leading duo he crashed out of the race and gave up more ground in the championship fight.

The battle out front raged on as Martin continued to defend from Bastianini as the Ducati rider desperately searched for a way through on the Pramac in front. 

Bastianini had one final opportunity to overtake at Turn 4, and his lunge sent Martin wide and onto the run-off and allowed the Ducati through to take victory.

Martin was furious with Bastianini’s move and crossed the line second, 3.979s behind the Ducati, with Marc Marquez sneaking onto the podium in third. 

Ducati sealed the Constructors’ Championship with Bastianini’s victory after Jack Miller finished 16th for nearest challengers KTM.

VR46 academy riders Marco Bezzecchi and Franco Morbidelli came home in 4th and 5th respectively. 

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales took the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo in the final corner for sixth,  ahead of the second Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro in eighth. 

Gresini’s Alex Marquez was ninth as Trackhouse’s Miguel Oliveira rounded out the top ten.

Late race pace from both Repsol Honda’s allowed Joan Mir and Luca Marini to cross the line in 11th and 12th respectively ahead of the second Trackhouse bike of Raul Fernandez.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was 14th despite receiving a long lap penalty for track limits, while Johann Zarco made it three Hondas in the points after taking the flag in 15th. 

Miller was unable to salvage a point from a nightmare weekend as he crossed the line in 16th, ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in 17th and Augusto Fernandez’s GasGas in 18th. 

Binder crashed out of the race but rejoined and finished 19th, over a minute behind Bastianini while Acosta and Bagnaia did not rejoin after their crashes and did not finish the race.

Alex Rins sat out of the weekend’s action due to illness and did not take part in the race.

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Home hero Celestino Vietti took a stunning win in Moto2, outdragging Fantic’s Aron Canet to the line to record his second win of the season at Misano. 

The home favourites Tony Arbolino and Vietti got fantastic starts from third and fourth on the grid, with the MarcVDS rider leading the KTM Ajo rider into Turn 1 ahead of Canet and American Racing’s Joe Roberts.

Canet continued to follow Vietti as the Italian set a new race lap record in a bid to break away from the Spaniard and challenge Arbolino out front. 

Sergio Garcia, who was looking to recover from his nightmare weekend last time around, crashed out at Turn 1 as his championship aspirations looked to be slipping away. 

Another contender in Jake Dixon also crashed out the corner after Garcia, potentially putting an end to his momentum in the title fight. 

Out front, the gap continued to close between the leading three as championship leader Ai Ogura continued to fend off SpeedUp’s Fermin Aldeguer for fourth. 

Vietti looked the fastest of the leading trio and attempted a move on Arbolino into Turn 2, but a mistake cost him as he lost a place to Canet.

Arbolino looked to regain control out front but a mistake caused him to run wide and allowed Canet and Vietti through.

Just as Vietti looked as he was going to take the lead, his bike got out of shape going into the final corner – he was able to recover, although he’d lost touch with Canet and Arbolino.

A block pass by Arbolino allowed him to reclaim the lead, but he went wide to give Canet a chance to overtake him, but he was able to cover the Spanish rider off. 

The fighting between the leading pair allowed Vietti back into the fight as it looked to be a three-way fight going into the last lap. 

Arbolino seemed to have it covered, but a mistake ran him wide – losing the chance of a win and allowing Canet and Vietti back through.

Canet looked to have it covered, but ran a defensive line into the final corner which allowed Vietti to outdrag him to take the chequered flag ahead of the Spaniard, with Arbolino eventually coming home in third. 

Ogura was able to fend off Aldeguer for fourth, while Roberts crossed the line in sixth. 

IntactGP’s Senna Agius came home in seventh ahead of American Racing’s Marcos Ramirez in eighth and SpeedUp’s Alonso Lopez in ninth.

MarcVDS’ Filip Salac rounded out the top 10 ahead of Gresini’s Manuel Gonzalez in 11th.

Italtrans’ Dennis Foggia crossed the line 12th ahead of Aspar’s Izan Guevara in 13th.

Honda Team Asia’s Somkiat Chantra came home in 14th as Jeremy Alcoba rounded out the point scorers in 15th.

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Aspar’s David Alonso took a stunning Moto3 victory in Misano over Leopard’s Angel Piqueras to extend his championship lead to 79 points.

Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato got away well from pole position, leading championship leader Alonso and MT Helmets’ Ivan Ortola down into the first corner.

Boe Motorsport’s David Munoz, who crashed out on Lap 1 last weekend, dropped out of contention on the first lap again after contact with Stefano Nepa.

Championship leader Alonso looked to take charge of the race and break away from the chasing group after overtaking race leader Furusato, but was being followed closely by last weekend’s winner Piqueras. 

Daniel Holgado looked to get back into championship contention and pulled two aggressive moves on Furusato and Piqueras to take second.

Holgado set the fastest lap of the race as he looked to take control from Alonso out front, and overtook the Colombian to lead and was followed through by Leopard’s Adrian Fernandez. 

Piqueras took the lead a short while later and wanted to break the group, but made a mistake going into Turn 15 and was re-passed by Alonso and Holgado. 

Furusato was showing strong pace as he looked to take third from Fernandez, but contact sent both riders wide and pushed them back down the order. 

Piqueras once again looked to have the pace to challenge for the lead and set a new race lap record while chasing Holgado for second. 

The battle for victory looked to be between leading the group of Alonso, Holgado, Piqueras and the Husqvarna of Collin Veijer, and the championship leader seemed to have the advantage despite holding a track limits warning. 

Holgado pulled a late move on Alonso to take the lead with a lap go, which also allowed Piqueras to follow through into second. 

Alonso responded and pulled a stunning double overtake on the leading pair to retake the lead of the race and took the chequered flag in first ahead of Piqueras in second.

Holgado crossed the line in third but was demoted a position on the final lap and dropped to fourth, while Veijer inherited the final podium position. 

Ortola came home in fifth, ahead of Sic58’s Luca Lunetta who was sixth, ahead of Boe Motorsport’s Joel Kelso in seventh and Fernandez in eighth. 

Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle showed last race pace to come home in 9th, ahead of KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda in 10th.

Husqvarna’s Tatsuki Suzuki was 11th, ahead of Sic58’s Filippo Farioli in 12th and Furusato, who fell out of contention after receiving a long lap penalty for track limits, crossed the line in 13th.

Nepa finished 14th despite first lap contact while MT Helmets’ Ryusei Yamanaka rounded out the points finishers in 15th.

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Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia took a remarkable win over championship rival Jorge Martin to take the MotoGP Sprint victory in Misano.

Bagnaia struggled on the start for a second consecutive weekend but was able to overtake his rival Martin to take victory and cut the gap in the rider’s standings down to just four points.

There were lightning starts from Martin and the KTM of Brad Binder which saw them get the jump on Bagnaia, as Martin led the KTM and the Ducati into Turn 1. 

Bagnaia and team-mate Enea Bastianini looked to respond immediately and were able to pass the KTM of Binder with the help of the GP24’s rapid straight line speed.

The Italians were looking to get back on terms with Martin out front, as reigning double world champion Bagnaia set lap record after lap record to close the gap out front to just two tenths of a second.  

The pressure was piling on Martin out front and a mistake going into Turn 14 allowed Bagnaia to go through to the delight of the home crowd as the Italian started to break away out front. 

Martin recovered well from his mistake, but the gap out front was just too much as Bagnaia took the chequered flag 0.285s ahead of Martin, with Bastianini rounding out the podium in third. 

Marc Marquez got a good start from seventh on the grid and was able to overtake Binder to get up to fourth, but was unable to get on terms with the top three. 

Pedro Acosta came home in fifth ahead of fellow KTM rider Binder in sixth. 

Fabio Quartararo continued what has been a solid weekend for Yamaha, bringing it home in seventh ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Franco Morbidelli, who were the final point scorers in eighth and ninth. 

Maverick Vinales narrowly missed out on the points in 10th, leading home fellow Aprilia riders Miguel Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro, as VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was 13th. 

Alex Marquez was able to recover from his lowly grid position in 14th, finishing ahead of Raul Fernandez, who received a long lap penalty in the final laps of the sprint. 

Jack Miller’s nightmare weekend continued as he could only bring his KTM home in 16th, ahead of the Honda trio of Luca Marini, Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami. 

Tech3 GasGas’ Augusto Fernandez was 20th and Joan Mir rounded out the finishers in 21st after becoming the first rider this weekend to receive a long lap penalty for track limits. 

Yamaha announced earlier in the day that Alex Rins had withdrawn from the remainder of the weekend due to illness and did not take part in the Sprint.

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It was Martin who set the early pace in the session – setting a new lap record of 1:30.245s on his first flier to head to the top of the timesheet.

In the final minutes in qualifying, it was clear that the battle for pole was to be between the two championship contenders – but it was Bagnaia who was able to pull out a stunning lap time of 1:30.031s to take pole, 0.214s clear of Martin in second.

Enea Bastianini took third in the session to make it an all GP24 front row as his time put him 0.533s off of teammate Bagnaia.  

Brad Binder, who progressed through Q1, took fourth and was able to salvage what was looking to be a terrible weekend for Red Bull KTM, as he heads the second row ahead of rookie Pedro Acosta. 

Marco Bezzecchi rounds out the second row in sixth, and will start ahead of Gresini’s Marc Marquez, who crashed after setting his first lap time and was unable to improve. 

Maverick Vinales will start from eighth, ahead of former teammate Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha, as Franco Morbidelli rounded out the top-10. 

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro qualified in 11th, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, as both riders finished Q2 a second adrift of Bagnaia’s pole time 

VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio narrowly missed out on Q2 despite carrying an injury and will start 13th on the grid, ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez.

Luca Marini lead the Repsol Honda pair as he will start both races in 15th, ahead of Joan Mir in 16th. 

Johann Zarco will start in 17th ahead of Augusto Fernandez, who crashed while trying to improve his lap time in Q1. 

Jack Miller had a nightmare qualifying session, finishing down in 19th and will head the seventh row of the grid, where he will be joined by Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez, who crashed at Turn 1 following his first flying lap.

Despite taking part in the final practice session, Alex Rins didn’t take part in qualifying and the Yamaha rider will start last on the grid should he partake in the rest of the weekend. 

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Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta finished top of the charts in MotoGP’s final practice session at Misano.

The 20-year-old posted a lap time of 1.31.451s on his final run of the session to finish as fastest, demoting Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo to second.

Quartararo previously posted back-to-back fastest laps in a massive turnaround in form for the factory Yamaha, with the 2021 champion showing he could be an underdog for this weekends race.

Francesco Bagnaia made some adjustments to his Ducati throughout the session, but he set a competitive lap time at the final ten minutes of the session. The double reigning champion improved on every lap time before finishing third overall.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez once again showed his competitive edge aboard the year-old Ducati, but a crash at Turn 14 with two minutes left on the clock halted a last-second run to finish top of the session. He finished in fourth spot and finished only 0.039s adrift of Acosta’s benchmark lap time.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli finished fifth and seventh respectively, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in between with sixth place.

Enea Bastianini and Raul Fernandez finished eighth and ninth respectively, with Brad Binder the nearest KTM to Acosta who rounded off the top ten.

Aleix Espargaro previously set runs that put him at the tail end of the grid but finished the session 11th overall with GasGas rider Augusto Fernandez behind.

Marco Bezzecchi improved from Friday’s runs to finish 13th, with lead Honda rider Johann Zarco ending his session in 14th.

Miguel Oliveira finished in 15th as the last Aprilia rider aboard his Trackhouse bike, with the Repsol Honda duo of Luca Marini and Joan Mir occupying 16th and 17th slots.

Alex Marquez finished 18th ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller, with surprise name Fabio Di Giannantonio ending his session in 20th.

Takaaki Nakagami finished as the last Honda rider, with Alex Rins occupying the last place in the classification.

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Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia set a new lap record on his first-time attack at the Misano circuit to top MotoGP‘s second practice session.

Bagnaia and Pramac’s Jorge Martin dominated the early stages of the practice session, trading the top spot as they pulled ahead of the chasing pack by four-tenths.

However, on his initial push, Bagnaia set a blistering 1:30.286s to break the lap record at the Misano World Circuit as he topped the timed practice session and booked his place in Q2. 

Martin was also showing lightning pace and was on course to challenge the Italian, but his fastest lap was cancelled due to yellow flags after Tech3 GasGas’ Augusto Fernandez crashed ahead of him.

Martin wouldn’t go quicker than his lap of 1:30.484s after crashing out of the session with three minutes to go, as he ended up second, 0.198s off of Bagnaia’s time. 

There were also late crashes for Fabio Di Giannantonio, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini which caused many of the riders to abandon their flying laps.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was in third, ending up 0.299s behind the championship contenders, as Bastianini was 4th, 0.321s behind teammate Bagnaia. 

It was a positive showing for Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo as he finished fifth, six-tenths off of Bagnaia’s lap record, with Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli in sixth.

VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was seventh, as the Aprilia Maverick Vinales finished eighth.

Tech3 GasGas’ Pedro Acosta finished ninth after a crash early in the session and the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top 10.

Jack Miller narrowly missed out on a Q2 spot in 11th, ahead of LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco in 12th.

VR46’s Di Giannantonio was 13th despite his late crash ahead of Gresini’s Alex Marquez in 14th and KTM’s Brad Binder in 15th. 

The Trackhouse pair of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez came home in 16th and 17th, ahead of the Repsol Honda duo of Luca Marini and Joan Mir. 

Augusto Fernandez was 20th after crashing out of the session, and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the time-setters in 21st place.

Alex Rins sat out of the afternoon session due to a high fever and the Yamaha rider will be going through Q1 tomorrow morning.

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