As the season develops, the calendar takes us back to Barcelona, at the Circuit of Catalunya, for the 2023 Catalan GP. It was a contested one at the morning as both Aprilia and Ducati bikes were the strongest bikes at the track, with Francesco Bagnaia snatching pole position from Aleix Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira by a small couple of tenths.

1. Francesco Bagnaia /// 2. Aleix Espargaro /// 3. Miguel Oliveira
4. Maverick Viñales /// 5. Jorge Martin /// 6. Johann Zarco
7. Alex Marquez /// 8. Fabio Di Giannantonio /// 9. Brad Binder
10. Marco Bezzecchi /// 11. Marc Marquez /// 12. Jack Miller
13. Pol Espargaro /// 14. Enea Bastianini /// 15. Raul Fernandez
16. Franco Morbidelli /// 17. Fabio Quartararo /// 18. Luca Marini
19. Augusto Fernandez /// 20. Joan Mir /// 21. Takaaki Nakagami
22. Iker Lecuona

As the clouds emerged at the track and a rain warning was given by race direction. Sprint race was underway as Bagnaia held the lead at the first laps, being chased by both Aprilias from Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro, as Martin, Binder, Bezzecchi, Oliveira and Marquez were trying to keep up the toe with the leaders.

As the laps passed by, the battle for the lead quickly became a 2-horse race between Bagnaia and Espargaro, as the Aprilia was the only rider who had an opportunity to take the race lead, meanwhile Viñales, Binder and Oliveira were on a small group aside, fighting for 3rd place.

As the sprint race continued to develop, it was a clinical move made by Aleix Espargaro and took the lead with a couple of laps to go, as Bagnaia was going for a response, The world champion was unable to keep up with the pace of the Aprilia, as the Spaniard was flying on track.

It was a dominant display from Aleix Espargaro, as the veteran rider takes the chequered flag and wins the sprint race, with Bagnaia surviving a late charge from Maverick Viñales, as the Italian rider keeps the pace at the championship standing.

Sprint race results:

1. Aleix Espargaro /// 2. Francesco Bagnaia/// 3. Maverick Viñales
4. Brad Binder /// 5. Jorge Martin/// 6. Miguel Oliveira
7. Johann Zarco/// 8. Marco Bezzecchi /// 9. Enea Bastianini
10. Alex Marquez /// 11. Marc Marquez/// 12. Luca Marini
13. Fabio Di Giannantoino /// 14. Raul Fernandez /// 15. Franco Morbidelli
16. Jack Miller /// 17. Augusto Fernandez /// 18. Fabio Quatararo
19. Iker Lecuona /// 20. Takaaki Nakagami/// 21. Joan Mir

DNF: Pol Espargaro

A superb display from the Aprilia bikes, as they look to show some of the dominance displayed today, on tomorrow’s race. Meanwhile Bagnaia and Ducati hope to improve the pace and keep up the momentum for the championship race.

MiniBikers – MotoGP
2023 Catalan GP
Sprint race