Aleix Espargaro and Francesco Bagnaia declare war on world championship leader Fabio Quartararo – and then there’s Enea Bastianini
With the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona this weekend, the 2022 MotoGP World Championship is slowly but surely coming to the end of the first half of the season. Following the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Finland, Barcelona is the ninth of 20 races on this year’s World Championship calendar.
In purely mathematical terms, the first half of the season will be concluded with the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring (19 June). Before the six-week summer break, however, there is still the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen (26 June). For this reason, there is talk in the paddock that the first half of the season will still comprise three races.
In the current 2022 MotoGP standings, last year’s world champion Fabio Quartararo is the leader. After a win (Portimao) and three further podiums, the Yamaha rider currently has an eight-point lead over surprise man Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia.
Espargaro has taken four podiums in addition to a win (Termas de Rio Hondo). These have all come in the four previous races with P3 in each. In the entire field, Quartararo and Espargaro are the only ones to have scored in all eight races so far this season.
“As far as we [at Aprilia] are concerned, we are doing a good job,” said Espargaro, sending a fighting message towards Quartararo: “Of course it is still quite early in the season. But I already believe that we will be in the fight for the World Championship title until the end.”
At the latest since his convincing victory at the Argentine Grand Prix in April, Espargaro on the Aprilia RS-GP is also seen by the competition as a serious rival for the absolute top positions in the races.
“Of course I am honoured that the others have changed their mentality towards me. But that doesn’t change my own approach at all,” says Espargaro and announces: “I will continue to follow my own path consistently until Valencia. “
Meanwhile, despite his two wins (Jerez and Mugello), Francesco Bagnaia is already 41 points behind Quartararo in current fourth place in the World Championship standings. “I made a few mistakes,” said Bagnaia, referring first and foremost to his two zero points.
The Ducati rider crashed both at the season opener in Losail and in Le Mans and thus gave away valuable World Championship points. To make matters worse, his crash in Qatar took fellow Ducati rider Jorge Martin out of the race. Bagnaia’s motto for the summer races is: “I basically have to perform like a machine.” One thing is clear: “Pecco” cannot afford any more mistakes in the title fight.
“But,” Bagnaia adds, “we mustn’t forget Enea either.” The aforementioned Enea Bastianini (Gresini-Ducati) is the current World Championship third. He is 28 points behind championship leader Quartararo. With three wins (Losail, Austin, Le Mans) Bastianini is the most successful in this respect after eight races of the season. But as with Bagnaia, there are also jags in his form curve.
Bastianini crashed both in Portimao and most recently in Mugello and thus gave away important championship points. Regardless of this, the Gresini rider is still considered the top favourite for a move to the Ducati factory team for the 2023 season. If this actually happens, then “Bestia” and “Pecco” would form an all-Italian rider duo in the Italian factory team in future.