Miller snatched the holeshot from the second on the grid, while Marquez went back to last as his Honda left the line. Jorge Martin’s War chased Miller ahead of Francesco Bagnaya and Bastianini with the 2021 Ducati, with world champion Fabio Quartararo briefly finishing fifth in his Yamaha. But the lack of top speed would soon give the Frenchman a return to eighth place from the Ducatis and Suzuki duo of Alex Rins and Joan Mir. Marquez recovered to 17th place in the first lap and in seven of the 20 laps he had returned to the top 10 having surpassed his sick Honda teammate Pol Espargaro. Bastianini was slightly eliminated by the leading duo of Miller and Martin – who exchanged places at the end of the first round, with the former company – on the fifth tour, but rallied when Miller began moving away from a battered Martin22 in Pram. The Italian was relegated for a while by Rins in the long hairpin stop at turn 11 in the 10th lap, but easily managed to reach third place in the back directly at turn 12. Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images At this point Miller had begun to move away from Martin by 0.4 seconds, which would extend close to eight tenths as Bastianini sent the Pramac rider to turn 1 in lap 12. Bastianini steadily stopped Miller’s lead as the Ducati factory rider’s pace began to slow down, while Rins came in third ahead of Martin in turn 7 in the 12th lap. In the 16th lap of 20, Bastianini made his decisive move to Miller at turn 12 at the end of the back straight and closed the door on any possible retaliation. From there, Bastianini opened a gap for which Miller could do nothing, with Rins quickly approaching his rear tire. Bastianini had a clear path to the checkered flag to become the first MotoGP repeater winner in 2022 and take a five-point lead in the championship. Rins made a move to Miller in the final lap on turn 11, but immediately crossed the fast Ducati again in a straight line. Jack Miller, Ducati Team Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images But the Suzuki rider remained behind Miller and made a book pass in the penultimate corner to snatch a second away from Ducati to move into second place in the standings. Joan Mir’s teammate was just 1.6 seconds away from last place on the podium in fourth place as Bagnaia was only able to reach fifth starting from the front row. After his defeat in the first round, Marquez regained sixth place in the checkered flag in an excellent charge through the pack. As Martin and Pramac teammates Joahnn Zarco began to fade, Marquez and Quartararo easily stood out. Over the last few tours, Marquez and Quartararo have been embroiled in a battle reminiscent of the 2019 races – though the pair almost hit the penultimate lap when Marquez had a moment to round lap 6 and almost touched the Quartararo . Marquez had taken sixth place from the Yamaha rider in lap 14, with the Frenchman trying to counterattack when they almost reached lap 19. The moment sent Quartararo out to turn 7 and allowed Marquez to return to take sixth place with just 0.143 seconds. Martin finished in a disappointing eighth place finish ahead of Zarco, while Maverick Vinales won Aprilia’s top honors from teammate Aleix Espargaro in 10th place late. Brad Binder finished KTM’s miserable COTA weekend in 12th place ahead of Pol Espargaro, while LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and RNF Racing Andrea Dovizioso finished in the top 15 after Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli was relegated one place. in the last round. Ducati VR46 rider Luca Marini drove KTM Miguel Oliveira and Tech3 counterparts Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner with Gresini Fabio Di Giannantonio and RNF Darryn Binder – who entered the pitlane shortly after – last of the terminators. LCR’s Alex Marquez and VR46 rookie Marco Bezzecchi were early in the fall.
