A couple of early frontrunners then crashed on Lap 2 – including race leader Miller. The Australian slipped out at Turn 4 and a few corners later at Turn 10, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) was on the floor. Both riders were unhurt, and both remounted. New race leader Bastianini then had a hairy moment at Turn 14.
On Lap 3, Bagnaia led for the first time and quickly following him through on Bastianini was Viñales. Further back, the top two in the World Championship – Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) – were locked together in P5 and P6. They were 0.8s off the leading quartet that consisted of Bagnaia, Viñales, Bastianini, and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).
Misano qualifying:
After passing Espargaro, Quartararo set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 7 of 27 and immediately started hunting down the leaders. The Frenchman gapped Espargaro by 0.7s but it was then the Aprilia star who set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 9, with the top six – down to the number 41 – split by 2.2s. However, a poor lap from Espargaro on Lap 12 saw the Spaniard slip to three seconds off the lead and 1.6s away from Quartararo.
Four wins in a row; the first Ducati rider to ever do that in MotoGP. Bagnaia has closed the gap to 30 points to Quartararo with six races to go, as the top three in the Championship are covered by 32 points heading to Aragon – a track Pecco won at last season.
Top 10:
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 27 laps
2. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) + 0.034
3. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 4.212
4. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 5.283
5. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 5.771
6. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 10.230
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 12.496
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 14.661
9. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 17.732
10. Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) + 21.986