{"id":676982,"date":"2026-05-17T15:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T15:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676982\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T15:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T15:55:10","slug":"fabio-di-giannantonio-wins-shortened-catalan-motogp-after-marquez-crash-motorsports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676982\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Di Giannantonio wins shortened Catalan MotoGP after Marquez crash | Motorsports News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Race marred by two red flags and multiple crashes, including a serious incident involving Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta.<\/p>\n

Published On 17 May 202617 May 2026<\/p>\n

VR46 Racing\u2019s Fabio Di Giannantonio has claimed victory at the Catalan Grand Prix in extraordinary circumstances, taking the chequered flag after a race that was red-flagged twice due to multiple crashes.<\/p>\n

The Italian secured only his second MotoGP victory and VR46 Racing\u2019s first since the Indian Grand Prix in 2023, but Sunday\u2019s triumph was overshadowed by serious incidents that sent Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco to hospital.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Honda\u2019s Joan Mir finished second ahead of Gresini Racing\u2019s Fermin Aldeguer while pole sitter Acosta crashed on the final lap after contact from Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura, who was handed a three-second penalty.<\/p>\n

However, six riders were being investigated for their tyre pressures, leaving the final standings uncertain.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday has not been an easy day for everybody. I really hope that Alex is fine,\u201d\u00a0Di\u00a0Giannantonio\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really lucky. We know that our sport is amazing. We try to give an amazing show, but also we are humans and we are in danger. So I really hope that everybody is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PedroKTM rider Pedro Acosta rides in front of Ducati rider Alex Marquez shortly before they are involved in an accident on lap 12 of the Catalan Grand Prix [Jose Jordan\/AFP]Alex Marquez crashes into Acosta<\/p>\n

The drama began on lap 12 when race leader Pedro Acosta\u2019s KTM suddenly lost power on the straight near turn 10 and Gresini Racing\u2019s Marquez, running second, had no time to react as he crashed into the back of the stricken machine.<\/p>\n

Marquez and his Ducati careered towards the wall before both cartwheeled through the air as he lost control on the gravel.<\/p>\n

The wheel from Marquez\u2019s bike also struck\u00a0Di\u00a0Giannantonio, who went down but managed to nurse his machine back to the pits.<\/p>\n

The second red flag came after an even more chaotic restart when LCR Honda\u2019s Zarco braked late on turn one of the first lap and took out Ducati\u2019s Francesco Bagnaia and Honda\u2019s Luca Marini in a three-rider pile-up.<\/p>\n

Both Marquez and Zarco were taken to hospital for further examinations although the medical team confirmed they were conscious.<\/p>\n

\"AlexA rider passes the destroyed Ducati motorcycle of Alex Marquez [Jose Jordan\/AFP]Martin crashes in second restart<\/p>\n

The second restart in effect transformed what was originally a 24-lap race into a 12-lap sprint.<\/p>\n

The chaos continued when Jorge Martin, who started on the front row and looked set to battle for the championship lead, crashed after a collision on lap one when Trackhouse\u2019s Raul Fernandez made contact on a turn.<\/p>\n

Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola looked furious as he walked over to the Trackhouse garage to have a word with the Italian manufacturer\u2019s satellite team.<\/p>\n

With Aprilia\u2019s Marco Bezzecchi finishing sixth, the Italian extended his lead over Martin in the championship to 13 points.<\/p>\n

But up front,\u00a0Di\u00a0Giannantonio\u00a0found a way past Mir with four laps to go before hunting down Acosta, taking the lead with two laps remaining to crush the 21-year-old\u2019s dreams of a first MotoGP victory.<\/p>\n

Acosta\u2019s nightmare was then complete when he crashed on the final lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy one. They should give more points for this,\u201d Mir said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Johann and Alex, wishing them the best and hopefully we see them in Mugello\u201d for the Italian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\"FabioDucati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio celebrates winning the Catalan MotoGP with Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team owner Valentino Rossi [Jose Jordan\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Race marred by two red flags and multiple crashes, including a serious incident involving Alex Marquez and Pedro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,2057,806,805,3152,803,804,44,2020,588,85],"class_list":["post-676982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-europe","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motorsports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}