The 2022 season of MotoGP was off to a flying start with Enea Bastianini of the Gresini Ducati team picking up his first-ever race victory. Brad Binder of KTM and Honda’s Pol Espargaro were the other two surprising names on the podium to kick-start the season.
Today at Man’s Life, we will take you through the men that shined and the men who left us wanting more from the 2022 Qatar Grand Prix.
MEN WHO SHINED
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The man who shined the most without a doubt was Enea Bastianini who picked up a surprising race win on his Gresini Ducati. The Italian did well to clear off a late charge from Brad Binder who had a stunning race as well but in the end, the South African had to settle for P2. Honda’s Pol Espargaro who led the race for a while faded to P3 after running wide at Turn 1. Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro narrowly missed on the podium finishing behind his brother Pol, with six-time World Champion Marc Marquez finishing right behind him who returned to racing for the first time since being ruled out with vision problems. Despite the pace Suzuki showed in practice, the Spanish duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins only managed P6 and P7 respectively. Lastly, it was Pramac’s Johann Zarco who pipped the defending champion Fabio Quartararo at the finish line by 0.007 seconds to take eighth place
MEN WHO LEFT US WANTING MORE
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Having won the riders’ championship last season, fans had high expectations from Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman could not live up to it as he finished P9 and had one of his worst career finishes since joining the Yamaha team. It wasn’t all smiles at Ducati as their factory squad faced a nightmare with Jack Miller retiring early in the race due to a technical fault with his bike while his teammate Francesco Bagnaia crashed on lap 12 and also took out Pramac’s Jorge Martin while trying to overtake the Spaniard. Other riders to join the DNF list were KTM’s Miguel Oliveira and Alex Marquez who crashed out on lap 10 and 9 respectively.
MotoGP now shifts their attention to the Indonesian Grand Prix which takes place for the first time in nearly 25 years at the Mandalike International Street Circuit on the 20th of March.
[Featured Image Credit: Michelin Motorsport]
Shashank Iyer