Francesco Bagnaia’s charge for the 2022 MotoGP title continues with another dominant victory at his and Ducati’s home GP at the Misano circuit, despite being handed a three-place grid penalty. He now trails championship leader Fabio Quartararo by just 30 points. Bagnaia has also carved out his own little niche in the history pages by becoming the first Ducati rider to win four races on the trot. 

• Polesitter Miller crashes out 

• Bastianini finishes just 0.03s adrift of Bagnaia

• After 346 race starts in GP racing, Dovizioso retires

Italian manufacturers lock out the podium

With Bagnaia’s victory streak persisting, Bastianini finishing second, and Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales rounding out the podium, it was only Italian machinery that locked out the podium. While Vinales and Bastianini tried to usurp the lead from Bagnaia multiple times in the 27-lap long San Marino GP, the Italian was able to stave them off to clinch his fourth straight victory. Bastianini particularly put up a relentless show, finishing within 0.03s of his future teammate. 

A Turn 1 incident on the opening lap put Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco, Ducati test-rider Michele Pirro and Repsol Honda rider Pol Espargaro out of the race after a poor start saw Zarco come in contact with the aforementioned duo. Lap 2 had no shortage of drama either and saw a slew of clashes. Polesitter Jack Miller crashed out on Turn 4, which put an end to his victory hopes. Marco Bezzecchi, Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio also crashed out at various points on Lap 2. Bezzechhi, Miller and Di Giannantonio, however, were able to carry on to finish 17th, 18th and 20th respectively.  

Dovizioso’s MotoGP farewell 

After starting 346 races in closed-circuit GP racing, Andrea Dovizioso brought an end to his illustrious career, finishing 12th and scoring valuable points. Luca Marini put in his best performance of the season, and finished fourth, just ahead of championship leader and current world champion, Fabio Quartararo. Alex Marquez brought some much-needed respite to the Honda camp, finishing 10th despite starting in 16th position on the grid. 

Brad Binder pulled off his usual Sunday routine, finishing 8th after starting a distant 15th. Miguel Oliviera, too, was making decent progress before a long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits put an end to his top-10 finish aspirations.

MotoGP rookie Raul Fernandez, who will be sharing a garage with current KTM rider Oliviera next year at the satellite Aprilia team, finished a respectable 13th. He was comfortably ahead of his current teammate Remy Gardner who crossed the chequered flag 19th. Alex Rins also put on a good show and finished 12.5 seconds off the winner to take seventh place. On the other side, Kazuki Watanabe from Suzuki, who is making his MotoGP debut by replacing the injured Joan Mir, ended up finishing 21st.  

2022 MotoGP Championship standings

Quartararo still leads the championship standings with 211 points, 30 points clear of Bagnaia and 33 clear of Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro. This race marked a shift in the championship runner-up status with Bagnaia assuming that role after a sixth place finish cost Espargaro valuable points. 

2022 San Marino GP results