Espargaro completes home double as Bagnaia crashes out after dramatic start

Aleix Espargaro secured his second consecutive win of the 2023 Catalan MotoGP, while Maverick Vinales helped make it a first-ever Aprilia 1-2.

Robert Jones

03 Sep 2023

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia MotoGP Catalunya 2023

The start to the Grand Prix saw a huge crash take place at turn one as five Ducatis went down.

Enea Bastianini clipped the rear of Johann Zarco before a skittle-effect saw Marco Bezzecchi and both Gresini riders go down.

A red flag was then deployed but not before an awful highside for polesitter Francesco Bagnaia.

Leading on the exit of turn one, Bagnaia then went down before being struck in violent fashion by the fast-approaching KTM of Brad Binder.

A new race distance of 23 laps was confirmed as both factory Ducati riders were the only ones unable to take part in the restart.

Making another brilliant start, Jorge Martin jumped both factory Aprilia riders in order to take the lead.

But their response was immediate as Vinales came through on Martin at turn four. Espargaro then attempted to make it an Aprilia 1-2 at turn 10 but the Pramac rider was too strong under braking.

Further back, Pol Espargaro suffered his second DNF of the weekend after suffering a technical issue.

One lap later and A. Espargaro made his move on Martin for second after getting his RS-GP23 to turn better on the exit of turn 10.

Binder’s eventful day then ended on lap four after an issue led to him pulling off circuit.

With Espargaro beginning to catch his teammate, Vinales made a small mistake at turn one which allowed the gap to become less than half a second.

Vinales then kept hold of a three tenths advantage over Espargaro, however, Oliveira was dropped by the two Spaniard and fell back into the clutches of Martin.

Oliveira then lost his place on the podium at the start of lap 10 as Martin came through at turn one. On the other side of the RNF garage, Raul Fernandez saw his race end due to technical issues.

At the front, Vinales saw his lead grow to 1.3 seconds after gaining seven tenths at the start of lap 11.

After dropping time in order to give his front tyre some clean air, Espargaro began his second charge towards the lead of the race as the gap dropped under half a second with seven laps remaining.

With four laps to go Espargaro made his move but pushed Vinales wide in the process.

After seeing his lead grow even further, Espargaro controlled the gap on the final lap as he came across the line just ahead of Vinales to secure Aprilia’s first 1-2 in MotoGP.