TWO IN A ROW FOR BAGNAIA

For the second week in a row, Francesco Bagnaia held off a last-lap attack to win in MotoGP, this time at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Riding a factory Ducati in his home country of Italy, Bagnaia held off a late race attack from his championship-leading rival Fabio Quartararo to win the race by just 0.364s.

With the harder medium rear tyre compound Quartararo on his factory Yamaha closed the gap to Bagnaia late in the race, but was never quite close enough to make a move thanks to Bagnaia’s relentless consistency.

While Bagnaia claimed his second career victory, Quartararo stood on a MotoGP podium for the 19th time, the most of any Frenchman.

Behind them, Enea Bastianini rode the ride of the race from 12th on the grid the Italian rookie stormed through the field.

Overtaking the likes of Aussie Jack Miller, reigning champion Joan Mir and six-time champion Marc Marquez, Bastianini was often the fastest rider on the circuit.

Very impressively on a 2019 Ducati, Bastianini claimed a well-deserved maiden podium finish in third position.

There was a great battle for fourth on the final lap between Miller, Marquez and Mir.

The trio exchanged positions in the final sector, at Turn 14 Mir made a move on Miller for fourth but ran wide allowing Marquez to overtake the pair. In an attempt to line up a move at the final corner Mir ran wide at Turn 15.

Despite finishing fifth behind the Honda of Marquez, Mir was demoted to sixth for exceeding track limits, handing Miller his third straight top five finish.

The Espargaro brothers were next, with factory Honda rider Pol Espargaro eventually getting the better of his older brother Aleix on the factory Aprilia.

Only one KTM rider finished in the points, in what was a disastrous round for the Austrian manufacturer.

Brad Binder was that sole KTM rider, moving up from 17th on the grid he finished in ninth, LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the top 10 ahead of Ducati Wildcard rider Michelle Pirro.

For the fourth race in succession Frenchman Johann Zarco finished outside of the top 10, this time coming home in a lonely 12th place after an off-track excursion at Turn 1 early on.

In just his second race on a factory Aprilia, former Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales scored points for the Italian manufacturer, bringing his #12 machine home in 13th.

Honda test rider Stefan Bradl finished 14th, ahead of satellite Honda rider Alex Marquez who rounded out the 15 point scorers.

Danilo Petrucci finished in 16th ahead of nine-time motorcycle champion Valentino Rossi.

On his factory Yamaha debut, a still injured Franco Morbidelli came home in 18th from Luca Marini, Miguel Oliveira and Andrea Dovizioso on his MotoGP return.

Alex Rins and Jorge Martin both crashed out of top five positions.

For more of the latest MotoGP news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.