Gresini Racing take breakthrough MotoGP win
The revitalised Gresini Racing squad made its mark at the opening round of the 2022 FIM MotoGP World Championship in Qatar, with victory to Enea Bastianini coming just over a year after team founder Fausto Gresini’s death from COVID-19 and breaking a winless streak in the premier class for the Italian outfit that stretches back to 2006.
When Gresini Racing last won in MotoGP, the team was known as Fortuna Honda, running the RC211V as an independent squad. Marco Melandri and Toni Elias combined to deliver four wins for Gresini in 2006, for a team’s championship placing of fourth, only behind the full factory teams from Honda, Yamaha and Ducati. After Elias’s victory at the 2006 Portuguese GP, Gresini would not visit the top step of a MotoGP podium again until Bastianini’s win at Losail on 6 March.
The victory comes in Gresini Racing’s return to independent team status this year after running Aprilia’s MotoGP entry since 2015. Bastianini’s win was also the first achieved by a Gresini rider with Ducati machinery, as the team has only run Honda or Aprilia bikes in the premier class previously.
Enea Bastianini, the rider who delivered the breakthrough win, has a Gresini Racing connection going back to 2014. Starting out with what was initially known as Junior team GO&FUN Moto3 and later as Gresini Racing Team Moto3, the Italian teenager took two race wins and 15 podiums in three seasons with Gresini, for a best Moto3 World Championship placing of second in 2016.
After leaving Gresini Racing at the end of 2016, Bastianini spent two more seasons in Moto3, followed by a move up to Moto2 in 2019 with Italtrans Racing Team, with whom he won the 2020 Moto2 World Championship.
In 2021, the 23-year-old Italian made his MotoGP debut with Avintia Esponsorama, achieving a pair of third-place finishes with the Ducati satellite team before signing with Gresini Racing alongside Fabio Di Giannantonio for 2022.
For this year’s season-opening race at Losail in Qatar, Bastianini qualified second on the Desmosedici GP21, in between Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) on the front row. For the opening few circuits, Bastianini held down fifth place but was in a podium position by the halfway point of the 22-lap race.
On lap 17 of 22, Bastianini set the fastest lap of the race, then took the lead a lap later when Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) ran wide into the first corner. Holding off a late charge from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Bastianini secured his first ever premier class win and Gresini Racing’s first in almost 16 years.
Many in the MotoGP paddock saw the win as a fitting tribute to the late Fausto Gresini, with Bastianini acknowledging as much himself.
“I want to dedicate this victory to Fausto because he has pushed me a lot from the sky. It’s fantastic for all the team. I think we have cried - all the guys. I’m very happy for my family back home, I want to say thanks to everybody for this."