Aleix Espargaró said that the blunder of the 2022 Catalunya GP race, in which he was left without second place by making a mistake with the last lap, messing with the marker, had him overcome. "It's a thing of the past." He assured that he had no thorn in his side. But being reminded of it did not please him at all. A year later, the driver from Granollers was able to be a prophet in his land and get even for once and for all that historic blunder with a superb victory in the home GP Sprint.
Aleix prevailed in the short race with authority over the leader and champion Pecco Bagnaia, who with second place continues to strengthen his lead after Jorge Martín's 5th and Marco Bezzecchi's 8th.
The Catalan Aprilia rider arrived at the short race on Saturday with the bitter taste of having run out of pole position, three hours earlier, by just 104 thousandths of a second, against a Pecco Bagnaia who was imposing his championship law. Even so, starting from second place put him in a position to opt for victory.
This was seen from the start, in which, despite momentarily falling to 4th place (passed by Martín and Viñales), Aleix Espargaró stuck to the tail of Bagnaia's Ducati before closing the first lap. He kept the pulse of the Italian, whom he tied short, in the fifth lap (of the 12 of the test) he began to teach him the wheel, and it was in the sixth when he overtook him at the end of the straight, in a clean and authoritative way . He imposed his braking and took off at 4-5 tenths of a safety to avoid the Italian's reply.
The other half of the Sprint Aleix only had to manage the advantage, which reached 2 seconds, without jeopardizing his first win on Saturday at any time.
"An inner ego told me: 'Aleix, you've never won by escaping, you've always solved it on the last lap'. And today I wanted to destroy the rear tire and give it a try, and I did so. Pecco set the bar very high and I have continued with the bet and it has gone well", narrated Aleix Espargaró his career in the microphone of Dazn TV.
The third drawer of the podium of the Sprint of the GP of Catalunya went to Maverick Viñales, who had a solid performance, leaving behind Binder, Oliveira and Martín. The man from Roses got closer to Bagnaia in the last few turns, he came within 2 tenths of a second in the final lap, he pounced on the Italian at the La Caixa curve, but he lacked an extra bit of ambition to complete the overtaking. Viñales was content with third position, the second on Saturday that he has achieved (the previous one, at Silverstone).
