Di Giannantonio wins chaotic Catalunya crashfest

Marco Bezzecchi extends championship lead after a race packed with crashes, red flags and penalties, as Jack Miller fights through to score a point

Fabio Di Giannantonio is a MotoGP winner again after emerging on top in a chaotic and punishing Catalan Grand Prix that was stopped twice, littered with major incidents and only fully settled after post-race penalties.

The Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider took his first premier-class victory since 2023 with a superb late charge in the final 12-lap shootout at Barcelona, overcoming the pain of an earlier fall in the opening red-flag incident to beat Joan Mir and Fermin Aldeguer on the road. Mir was later penalised for tyre pressure, promoting Francesco Bagnaia to third behind Di Giannantonio and Aldeguer.

Run in the warmest conditions of the weekend, the race always looked likely to become one of tyre management and survival. Brad Binder had trouble on the grid and was forced to start from pitlane, while Pedro Acosta launched cleanly from pole. Alex Marquez, the sprint winner and pre-race favourite as he chased back-to-back Catalunya victories, was quickly dragged into a fierce fight with Raul Fernandez, Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco as Acosta tried to break clear.

Martin was especially aggressive early after crashing in the sprint and knowing he needed to respond on Sunday. Zarco shoved his way past Alex Marquez, Martin attacked from all angles, and Fernandez then seized the lead from Acosta at Turn 1 on lap five.

Further back, championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was already in strife. He had been circulating only eighth before a mistake dropped him to 11th, leaving him in danger of giving away ground in the title race. At that point, it looked like Catalunya could become one of his weakest Sundays of the season.

At the front, Alex Marquez was building ominously. He was the only rider consistently producing 1m29s laps and was visibly stronger through the final right-handers, carrying speed onto the straight and closing rapidly on the two leaders. By lap 10 he had forced his way into second and looked set to take the fight to Acosta.

Then the race turned violently. On lap 12, Acosta suffered a technical problem on the run out of Turn 9, his KTM slowing abruptly on the straight just as Marquez arrived behind him. With nowhere to go, Marquez hit the back of the KTM at high speed and crashed heavily. The impact tore his bike apart and scattered debris across the track. Di Giannantonio and Raul Fernandez were both caught in the aftermath, and Zarco also struck debris in the confusion. Marquez was conscious and taken to hospital for checks, while the red flag was thrown.

The first restart was set for 13 laps, but it barely lasted a corner. Into Turn 1, Bagnaia, Luca Marini and Zarco were involved in another heavy incident that triggered a second red flag. Zarco appeared to become tangled with a machine in the gravel and was later taken to hospital for checks on a left leg injury.

That left a final 12-lap restart to decide the Grand Prix. Acosta once again made the holeshot, Martin slotted into second and Fernandez into third, but almost immediately Martin and Fernandez came together at Turn 5. Fernandez lunged up the inside, contact followed, Martin crashed and both riders ran through the gravel. Martin rejoined at the rear, but his race was effectively ruined.

Mir was now Acosta’s closest challenger, with Bagnaia trying to make a medium rear tyre work while most around him were on softs. Di Giannantonio, despite having already crashed once and battered himself in the earlier incident, started charging. He moved past Bagnaia and then reeled in Mir, making the pass for second with five laps to go.

Three laps from home, Di Giannantonio attacked Acosta at Turn 10. The first move was untidy and Acosta initially resisted, but Di Giannantonio completed the pass through the next corner and immediately opened a gap. Once he was in front, no one could touch him.

Behind, the battle for the podium became frantic. Mir outbraked Acosta into Turn 1 on the final lap in what would have been a huge result for Honda, and Aldeguer also found a way through soon after. Acosta, struggling badly for grip by then, came under one final attack from Ai Ogura at the last corner. Ogura lunged up the inside, contact followed, and Acosta crashed out in another savage blow on a day that had already offered him a likely win and then a likely podium. Ogura crossed the line fourth but was later penalised three seconds for the move.

Di Giannantonio secured the win from Aldeguer and the promoted Bagnaia, with Bezzecchi classified fourth after a day that had looked likely to end in disappointment. Fabio Quartararo was fifth ahead of Marini, Binder, the penalised Ogura, Diogo Moreira and Franco Morbidelli.

For Jack Miller, the race was another complicated chapter in a difficult weekend for Prima Pramac Yamaha. He worked his way through the interruptions and changing race conditions, and later said the team had been fairly conservative with tyre management in the opening phase before switching approach for the final start and opting for a medium rear. As the circuit improved and the race distance effectively shortened, the Yamaha still lacked the drive needed on corner exit to attack or defend effectively. Miller crossed the line inside the points, but like team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu he was handed a 16-second post-race tyre pressure penalty. Miller was dropped to 15th, but importantly still kept one championship point.

That all left the title picture looking far better for Bezzecchi than it had seemed earlier in the day, given the problems for his key championship rivals. The Aprilia rider leaves Catalunya still leading the championship on 142 points, ahead of Jorge Martin on 127 and race winner Di Giannantonio on 116, with Pedro Acosta remaining on 92 and Alex Marquez on 67 after his huge crash. In what is shaping as a battle of attrition as much as speed, Bezzecchi’s main race consistency has him in good shape as the championship heads to Mugello in two weeks time.

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P1
“Today, we’ve been all lucky! The first crash was terrifying, so it means a lot to me knowing that everyone is more or less ok, this means that today is a great day for motorsports. After the incident I was involved in, I was feeling well and the team helped me a lot to try to re-start in the best way possible. It’s never easy to come back on track without knowing how the other riders are, but I needed to do a click. Obviously, I am very happy for the win, we’ve been having an amazing performance throughout the weekend, with an excellent preparation. Yesterday, we missed the win, but today we did it. This morning during the Warm Up I was feeling well and we knew that today we would have a great chance. At the re-start, with soft tyre I had less expectations that with the medium, but we managed to do a mega race, so we were in a great shape! I want to thank all the team and the partners for this first win with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team!”

Fermin Aldeguer – P2
“It’s never easy to race in situations like this. Obviously, we are professional riders and we know how to separate emotions, but it still helped me to know from the team that at that moment the news coming in about Alex (and the other riders) was positive. We did a good race, in many ways unexpected, but we took twenty very important points. We are not yet fully fit physically, but morale is high after this podium. Now we are waiting for Alex to come back to us at 100%.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P3
“Right now I’m in pain and feeling a bit dizzy. I took quite a big hit, but nothing compared to what happened to the others. In the end, we were lucky in what was a really intense day. When I felt the impact, I thought it was over, but then the crash happened and the impact with the gravel was really hard. I didn’t realise that Johann (Zarco) was still tangled up with the bike, and it was quite a traumatic moment. At the restart, I wasn’t expecting much because I had to jump onto a bike I had basically never ridden before, with used tyres as well. I still got a good start, but after three laps my head started spinning and all I could do was switch to survival mode. Obviously I’m happy with the podium, even though this isn’t the way we want — or feel we deserve — to achieve it, especially considering how hard the team is working. We simply need to keep working.”

Jack Miller – P15
“It was one of those days. In the first part of the race I actually felt quite good and we were being pretty conservative with the tyre management. I could see the riders around me starting to struggle a little more while we still had decent pace. After the first restart we changed strategy because I wasn‘t fully comfortable with the rear tyre feeling, and for the final start we went with the medium rear. In the end we were probably too conservative for what effectively became a shorter race. The track conditions improved a lot and we simply lacked acceleration on corner exit compared to the others. The biggest issue remains that when you pick the bike up and open the throttle, we are still losing too much drive on the exits. That makes it very difficult to attack or defend positions during the race. As for the incidents today, obviously our thoughts are with Alex Márquez and Johann Zarco. Seeing crashes like that is never easy for anybody on the grid and we all just hope both riders recover as quickly and as well as possible.”

2026 CATALUNYA MOTOGP

2026 MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6