MotoGP San Marino Results, Grand Prix - Doing it all again

The 2023 MotoGP World Championship continues this weekend in Misano. This page will be updated with MotoGP San Marino results throughout this weekend.

Overview

Grand Prix - Martin doubles upas Bezzecchi, Bagnaia make GP podium mirror Sprint

Sprint - Martin dominates as Bezzecchi, Bagnaia complete all-Ducati podium

Qualifying - Jorge Martin obliterates Misano lap record for San Marino GP pole

Practice - Lap record broken twice, Bezzecchi fastest overall, in afternoon Practice

FP1 - Pirro and Pedrosa star in Misano FP1

Grand Prix

Having dominated qualifying and the Sprint on Saturday, Jorge Martin was the subject of the primary question ‘who can beat him?’ in Misano on Sunday. The answer, in the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix, was simply ‘no’.

Like in the Sprint, Jorge Martin made the holeshot and, like in the Sprint, he led from Francesco Bagnaia after the Italian rode around the outside of his compatriot, Marco Bezzecchi, albeit this time in turn two rather than turn one.

Bagnaia’s early intensity was clear to see. He knew that track position would be key later in the race, and he wanted the clean air provided by the race lead for himself.

It was not easy to pass, though, and equally so for Bezzecchi on Bagnaia. Martin was afforded some significant space on lap six. Bagnaia lost the front at turn four, which allowed Bezzecchi to make a move at turn eight, only for him to run wide himself at turns nine and 10. That space was almost immediately erased, though, with Bagnaia setting the fastest lap of the race on lap seven (1:31.791).

By lap 12, nothing had changed among the front three, and Dani Pedrosa even seemed that he would join the battle. Only five laps later, though, and Martin began to push the pace. Bagnaia was slipping back, and the gap exceeded one second for the first time.

Bezzecchi made his move past his compatriot on lap 19, but over two seconds now stretched out in front of the #72.

The first few laps after Bezzecchi passed Bagnaia were good for the reigning champion; he latched onto the #72 and was able to use that marker to stay clear of Pedrosa.

Eventually, though, Bezzecchi escaped, and Bagnaia’s pace slipped back into the mid-to-high-1:32s, and Pedrosa’s threat became increasingly real.

At the front, Martin cruised to his second Grand Prix win of the year, and his second ‘double’, after Sachsenring, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi. Bagnaia was able to hold on from Pedrosa for the podium for the second day in a row, meaning the Grand Prix podium was identical to that of the Sprint.

Pedrosa took a second fourth place (top KTM) of the weekend, ahead of Maverick Vinales (5th, top Aprilia), and Miguel Oliveira (6th), who completed the top six.

Marc Marquez was a season-best seventh (top Honda, top Japanese bike), ahead of Raul Fernandez, who took his career best MotoGP result in eighth. Luca Marini (9th) and Johann Zarco (10th) completed the top 10.

Full MotoGP results from the San Marino Grand Prix are below.

2023 MotoGP San Marino Results | Grand Prix

Sprint

After dominating qualifying to take pole position earlier on Saturday, Jorge Martin presented a major concern for his rivals in the MotoGP Sprint at Misano. It was a just concern, as Martin applied a similar level of dominance to the Grand Prix.

Jorge Martin made the holeshot, while Francesco Bagnaia rode around the outside of Marco Bezzecchi in turn one to take over second place.

Bagnaia was already falling back from Martin by the second lap, and a mistake at turn 10 cost him second place to Bezzecchi.

Bagnaia had no answer for the two leaders, and instead had to concern himself with defending his podium position from Dani Pedrosa, while Bezzecchi was closing in on the back of Martin by the end of lap three.

The middle part of the race was almost entirely uneventful. Brad Binder scrapped his way eventually through to fifth place, but it was not until the final two laps that Binder got within range of Pedrosa, who had been unable to do anything about Bagnaia.

That remained true in the final two laps, too, as Bagnaia held firm for third place. Pedrosa, too, fended off Binder for fourth place, the South African taking fifth.

Coming to Misano, Jorge Martin had a job to do. Having reduced his gap to Bagnaia to 50 points in Barcelona, he now had to take advantage of the championship leader’s physical condition to minimise his deficit before MotoGP heads to Asia. With a dominant Sprint performance in which he was not headed, he achieved the first important goal for the weekend, and the 12 points bring his gap to Bagnaia down to 45 points.

Marco Bezzecchi’s performance was eclipsed possibly only by Bagnaia’s in terms of toughing out the pain. As important as the victory was for Martin’s title hopes, the second place for Bezzecchi was important for his.

Pedrosa’s fourth place cannot be praised enough, having not raced since Spain, which was his only race in two years. He beat Brad Binder for fourth place, while Maverick Vinales completed the top six as the top Aprilia.

Luca Marini (7th), Aleix Espargaro (8th), Alex Marquez (9th),and Marc Marquez (10th, top Honda, top Japanese bike), completed the top 10.

Full MotoGP results from the Sprint in San Marino are below.

2023 MotoGP San Marino Results | Sprint

Qualifying

Unsurprisingly, the relatively perfect conditions that had been present in Misano until qualifying remained for the session to decide the grid. Similarly unsurprisingly, it was Jorge Martin who took pole position, and set a new lap record. 

Making it through to Q2 from Q1 were the only two Aprilias in the session, with Miguel Oliveira joining Aleix Espargaro in moving through to the second session at the expense of the likes of Fabio Quartararo and Michele Pirro.

Q2 was completely dominated by Jorge Martin, who set two lap record times on his way to pole position. In the end, his 1:31.390 beat Marco Bezzecchi’s lap record from Practice on Friday by almost half-a-second.

It was second place for Bezzecchi, though, despite the pain he is contending with from the injuries sustained last weekend in Montmelo, while Francesco Bagnaia - in a similarly painful state - completes and all-Ducati front row.

Maverick Vinales qualified fourth, and should be able to find himself in victory contention from there both in the Sprint and Grand Prix. He is joined by the top-placed KTM of Dani Pedrosa (5th), and his own Aprilia teammate, Aleix Espargaro (6th), on the second row.

Brad Binder (7th) heads up row three, alongside Luca Marini (8th) and Marc Marquez (9th, top Honda, top Japanese bike); while Miguel Oliveira (10th) completes the qualifying top 10, and will be joined by Alex Marquez (11th) and his RNF Aprilia teammate, Raul Fernandez (12th), on the fourth row.

Takumi Takahashi, who had been drafted in for this weekend to replace Alex Rins with Stefan Bradl on testing duties and Iker Lecuona at the French round of WorldSBK, failed to lap within the 105% qualifying time during the three practice sessions which preceded qualifying, and was therefore disqualified from the rest of the weekend.

Full MotoGP results from qualifying in Misano are below.

2023 MotoGP San Marino Results | Qualifying

Practice

Sunny and stable conditions continued into the afternoon in Misano for MotoGP Practice, which was topped by Marco Bezzecchi, who set a new lap record.

After the now expected 40 minutes of race setup work in MotoGP Practice, the time attacks began with around 20 minutes to go. The first major shot came from Maverick Vinales, who set the first ever sub-1:31 lap of Misano with his first time attack run.

Things were less rosy on the other side of the factory Aprilia garage, as Aleix Espargaro crashed on his second time attack run, which leaves him facing Q1 tomorrow.

The same was almost true of Francesco Bagnaia, but his last lap got him up into the top 10 in seventh place.

Bagnaia's best lap came just moments after Marco Bezzecchi broke Vinales' lap record with a 1:30.846 to top the session.

Vinales, then, finished second, ahead of the top KTM of test rider wildcard Dani Pedrosa who completed the top three, himself complete with the new carbon frame. Jorge Martin was fourth, ahead Luca Marini (5th) and Marc Marquez, who managed to follow Dani Pedrosa for a lap good enough for sixth-fastest.

The aforementioned Bagnaia was seventh, ahead of Alex Marquez (8th), Brad Binder (9th), and Raul Fernandez (10th), who completed the top 10 and made Q2 for the first time in his career.

Full MotoGP results from Practice in Misano are below.

2023 MotoGP San Marino Results | Practice

FP1

MotoGP's first session in Misano took place under the kind of intense sunlight you might expect. Early on in the weekend, some of the wildcards showed promising speed, and in the end it was Michele Pirro who ended FP1 fastest.

The main story of FP1 was, although for perhaps unexpected reasons, Dani Pedrosa. He spent some time at the top of the time sheets, but it was his bike which was of the most interest. KTM has brought two carbon chassis' for the #26 RC16 in Misano, one for each bike (first bike and spare bike). He had already tried it in testing, and clearly liked it enough too try it in competition.

It clearly worked also in the race weekend for Pedrosa, who finished FP1 sixth-fastest. However, his limelight was stolen by Michele Pirro, who topped FP1 on the Aruba.it-sponsored Ducati test team bike. Over 0.1 seconds clear of second-placed Luca Marini, Pirro was also the only rider in FP1 to lap faster than 1:32, so it was a strong start for the wildcard.

Pirro also led an all-Ducati top four but, as might be expected considering the rider situation within the factory team, all three of the riders behind Pirro were on satellite Desmosedicis. Aside from VR46's Marini, Pramac's Jorge Martin was third, ahead of Marini's teammate Marco Bezzecchi, despite a hand injury picked up in the turn one crash last week in Catalunya.

Raul Fernandez was the fastest Aprilia in fifth place, ahead of the fastest KTM, of the aforementioned Pedrosa, in sixth place.

Maverick Vinales, a favourite for victory this weekend considering his own history in Misano and the current form of the RS-GP, was seventh, ahead of Johann Zarco (8th), last weekend's winner Aleix Espargaro (9th), and Alex Marquez (10th, who made it six Ducatis in the top 10.

The absence of Bastianini this weekend means there are still eight Ducatis on the grid, rather than nine, so only two missed out. Those belonged to Fabio Di Giannantonio (17th), and Francesco Bagnaia (20th), the latter clearly struggling for strength in his injured right leg. Still, despite his lowly finishing position, Bagnaia was within half-a-second of second place in FP1.

He was also ahead of Marc Marquez, who finished 21st amid rumours he may buy out the Gresini team to partner his brother Alex Marquez in it for next season. The top Honda was Stefan Bradl in 16th, who has at least a new chassis and exhaust to test this weekend.

Full MotoGP results from FP1 in Misano are below.

2023 MotoGP San Marino Results | FP1

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