Gran Premio Red Bull de España 2022

2022-05-06 09:31
• Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) wins the Spanish GP
• Bagnaia sets new circuit all-time lap record of 1’36.170
• Bagnaia sets new race lap record of 1’37.669
• New fastest race duration of 41’00.554



Francesco Bagnaia took MotoGP™ victory under the hot Andalusian sun at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto in the Gran Premio Red Bull de España, following a race-long duel with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in second place. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) took the final step on the podium, crossing the finish line almost 10 seconds back in third place.

In the first round of the 2022 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup, Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) took the honours in both Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday.

With the highest temperatures of the weekend on Sunday, tyre choice for the race was Hard front, and Medium rear MICHELIN Power Slicks for all riders, but Bagnaia was able to extract the best from them and set a new race lap record of 1’37.669 on his way to the win.

The weather for the weekend was dry, but heavy rain on Thursday night meant that there were damp patches around the circuit on Friday, and there was still some moisture rising through the asphalt on Saturday – particularly in Turn 8. Despite this, the pace was very competitive right from the start and the top 19 riders were separated by less than one second in FP1. With higher temperatures and drier track conditions in FP2 the lap times started to tumble as the riders exploited the grip and confidence offered by the MICHELIN Power Slick tyres

Saturday was a warmer day than Friday, and in the crucial FP3 session the riders began their hunt for the best lap times to directly access Q2. Time attacks started in earnest in the last five minutes of the session with Soft rear tyres used by all riders.

Qualifying 2 saw Bagnaia taking pole position with a stunning lap time of 1’36.170, which beat the previous all-time lap record by more than four-tenths of a second, with Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro completing the front row of the grid.

Speaking after the race, Piero Taramasso, Michelin Two-Wheel Motorsport Manager, said: “This weekend was much more stable from a weather point of view compared to last week, so this allowed the teams to work properly on dry set-up, and this was reflected in the very fast and close lap times we saw – culminating in both a new race lap record and the impressive new all-time circuit lap record by Pecco. The performance of the tyres throughout the race was also very good, with consistently fast lap times that contributed to a great race and a new race duration record, more than five seconds faster than the previous record, in front of the incredibly passionate fans here in Jerez.

“As this was the first round of the MotoE championship with updated Energica Ego Corsa bikes it was good to see that our new tyres, with a greater percentage of sustainable materials in the rears, worked very well with consistently good lap times, although I’m sure when the set-up of the new bikes is fine-tuned over the coming races, the lap times will improve further.”

Source: Michelin Motorsport

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