Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) stormed to a popular home victory at the Italian Grand Prix Sprint in Mugello, while championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) crashed out of third place with four laps to go.
Title defender Bagnaia stole the holeshot at lights out and broke away from the field for an undisputed triumph.
“Incredible, I enjoyed every single lap,” the Italian said in parc ferme. “The last part of the race was quite tough, but I really enjoyed it. The bike is working perfectly.
“For tomorrow, it will be tough to do the same, but to finish the Sprint race is always good and this is the first finish for me in four Grands Prix, so I’m very happy. Winning again here is incredible in front of this crowd, I’m in love with them.”
Starting from second on the grid, Bagnaia had a blistering getaway and shot into the lead, quickly stretching away from his team-mate Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) in second.
Martin swiftly made his way past Bastianini into second spot, but the gap at the front was already up to half a second at the end of the opening lap.
Going onto Lap 3, Bastianini had excess speed coming down the start/finish straight and dove down Martin’s inside for an overtake attempt. The factory Ducati ran wide though and when Bastianini tried to get back on the racing line, he and Martin made slight contact, causing Bastianini to go down and out.
Bagnaia was checking out at the front while Martin and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), themselves with a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack, engaged in battle for second.
Marquez had a first look coming out of the slipstream into Turn 1 on Lap 5 but had to wait another lap to make the move stick and take second off Martin. He immediately started to gap the Pramac Ducati, but the deficit to Bagnaia in the lead was already up to a second.
Matters got worse for Martin on Lap 8 when his front end folded at Turn 1 and he crashed out of proceedings, losing valuable points in the title race.
Marquez was left in a lonely second place and brought it home for a third consecutive Sprint podium. “The pace is super good,” he said. “It looks like Pecco [Bagnaia] is a bit faster than us, but we are there around second or third place.
“Today I started in fourth position, but the start was not so good. With the starts I struggled a bit all weekend, but tomorrow we will try to manage that. And the race pace was there, I feel good, so let’s see if we can fight for a podium again tomorrow.”
Behind, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) had broken away from the field and bagged his third Sprint rostrum of the season. “We are improving a lot on Saturdays,” he said. “We are more competitive in qualifying and we also massively improved the starts.
“I’m super happy with the team because they are working day and night to bring this bike to the top. We are getting closer, we are even closer than what we expected. All the factory in Mattighofen and all the engineers here are working hard to have a super competitive bike – we are on our way.”
Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Ducati) had a great race in fourth ahead of Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) in fifth.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was sixth from Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) while Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) secured the last point on offer in ninth.
RIDER OF THE DAY: PEDRO ACOSTA
It was another rock-solid performance from rookie Acosta who bounced back from a rollercoaster Friday to bag a podium finish at his Mugello MotoGP debut.
Having just been announced as a KTM factory rider for 2025, what a way for Acosta to celebrate his promotion and to prove the decision makers in Mattighofen right.
WHERE THE RACE WAS WON AND LOST
1/11: BAGNAIA STEALS HOLESHOT – Blistering start from the defending world champion who storms into the lead followed by factory Ducati colleague Bastianini.
1/11: MARTIN INTO SECOND – Martin attacks Bastianini for second and makes it stick.
3/11: BASTIANINI OUT – Bastianini dives down Martin’s inside but goes wide straight after and tries to get back on track. He and Martin make contact in the process and Bastianini goes down and out.
6/11: MARQUEZ INTO SECOND – Coming out of the slipstream, M Marquez finds the inside line past Martin and slots into runner-up spot. Bagnaia is a second ahead.
8/11: MARTIN OUT – Martin is down and out as his front end washes out at Turn 1.
11/11: BAGNAIA WINS IN MUGELLO – Bagnaia takes a comfortable Sprint win on home soil with M Marquez and Acosta completing the podium.