The 2023 Italian Grand Prix couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend for Francesco Bagnaia as the factory Ducati rider won on the team’s home turf at Mugello. Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco made it a second and third place finish for Prima Pramac Ducati, repeating the feat from the previous French Grand Prix.
How it all happened
For Bagnaia, everything went to plan, in topping qualifying, winning the sprint and taking victory in the main race. However, the battle behind him was a dogfight for the final podium positions. While Jorge Martin kept Bagnaia honest for most of the race, the battle for third had Luca Marini, the Marquez brothers, Zarco and even the KTM of Brad Binder in the mix.
Then the first Domino began to fall with Marc Marquez crashing out of yet another race on the factory Honda. His younger brother, Alex Marquez followed suit in a different fall a few laps later. Binder eventually faded away as the race entered its climax but Zarco managed to catch up to his teammate by the chequered flag.
With Bagnaia’s title rivals having a damage limitation weekend, the Ducati rider now leads VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi by a healthy 21 points in the rider’s standings. MotoGP will next head to the Saschering for the German Grand Prix, scheduled to run between June 16-18.
