Fabio di Giannantonio denied championship leader Francesco Bagnaia in the dying stages to claim his maiden MotoGP victory at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Title rival Jorge Martin won Saturday’s sprint race to cut the gap to defending champion Bagnaia to seven points.
He fended off Fabio Di Giannantonio to claim an eighth sprint win of the 2023 MotoGP season at the Qatar Grand Prix to roll the championship battle to Valencia at the very least.
And although Gresini Racing rider Di Giannantonio took on fellow Italian Bagnaia to win on Sunday, Spaniard Martin finished a lowly 10th.
Martin has taken aim at Michelin as tyre problems in the Qatar Grand Prix left him 10th, saying “they stole” the MotoGP title from him.
Ducati’s Bagnaia now leads Martin by 21 points with just one race remaining. The 26-year-old can secure back-to-back world titles in the sprint at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix next weekend.
Luca Marini had earned pole position, with Bagnaia and Martin starting fourth and fifth on the grid respectively.
And while Bagnaia had the perfect launch to take the lead from Marini going into turn one, Martin nearly lost control of his Ducati Pramac because of a wheelspin.
He dropped back before struggling throughout with only Di Giannantonio, who came second in Saturday’s sprint, able to keep up with Bagnaia.
