RACE REPORT | MotoGP Spain 2023

Jerez witnessed a tumultuous Spanish MotoGP race that was marred by restarts, injuries, penalties and fierce on-track battles. Eventually, Francesco Bagnaia emerged victorious by overcoming a determined Brad Binder.

Bagnaia was initially forced to relinquish second place to Jack Miller, his rival and Binder's KTM teammate, after FIM stewards judged his pass through turn six to be too violent. Miller then robbed Jorge Martin of third place in the final corner, leaving Martin visibly frustrated.

Bagnaia retook second place when Miller ran wide with ten laps remaining and started closing in on Binder's lead. The reigning champion then pulled off a well-executed braking move in the final corner to snatch the lead with four laps remaining. Although Bagnaia attempted to pull away, Binder managed to close the gap with two laps to go, crawling on Bagnaia's rear wheel in the final corners of the last lap. Nevertheless, Bagnaia held firm and crossed the line first, with Miller finishing 0.8s behind Binder.

The race was halted by a multi-driver incident in turn two that led to a red flag and a controversial penalty. On Sunday, Fabio Quartararo was judged to be at fault after squeezing between Marco Bezzecchi and Miguel Oliveira, resulting in his own crash and Oliveira's dislocated left shoulder. Quartararo was handed a severe penalty, and the situation worsened when he stepped on the outside white line while serving a long lap penalty, earning him another penalty. He finished tenth after starting from a MotoGP-worst 16th place.

Joan Mir, Alex Rins and Johann Zarco were among the racers who dropped out of the race, while Maverick Vinales broke his chain on the final lap. Despite being twice as long as the sprint, the race had cooler temperatures, and all riders opted for medium front and rear tyres.