Diogo Moreira (9th): Why he came off second best in his duel with Bastianini

MotoGP rookie Diogo Moreira enjoyed a solid weekend at MotorLand Aragón. In qualifying, he secured 10th on the grid with his RC213V, meaning he started the races directly behind his team-mate Johann Zarco. Moreira rounded off a successful day’s work on Saturday with 7th place in the Sprint.

In Sunday’s Grand Prix, Moreira got off to a good start. Early on, he managed to overtake Zarco. On the second lap, however, he was overtaken by Gresini Ducati star Fermin Aldeguer. Following the retirements of Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), the LCR Honda rider was already in eighth place. Moreira then rode a consistent race, and in the final laps he found himself battling it out with KTM Tech3 ace Enea Bastianini. The two were locked in a close duel right up to the finish line – with ‘La Bestia’ coming out on top.

Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

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Jorge Martin

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Fans

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Marc Márquez

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Start des Rennens

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Moreira und Bastianini

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Marc Márquez

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Alex Márquez

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Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Pedro Acosta

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Brad Binder

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marc Márquez und Pedro Acosta

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Jorge Martin

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

© Gold & Goose

Diogo Moreira: “The battle with Enea was great”

Ninth place on Sunday was another strong result. “I really enjoyed it,” confirmed the Brazilian. “It was difficult at the start. We knew it wouldn’t be easy to get the medium tyres up to temperature. But whatever the case – we managed the race well. The battle with Enea at the end was great. I only made a mistake in the final sector of the last lap. But we can be satisfied; it was a positive weekend for us.”

After the race, Bastianini remarked that Moreira was strong on the brakes and that it was difficult to get past him. “That sounds good. Another rider said the same thing to me,” smiled the 22-year-old. “But I still need to improve my speed through the middle of the corners. I’m very strong on the brakes. Throughout the race, I was able to brake very hard on every lap. We still need to improve on corner grip, though. We’ve already made some progress in that area this weekend. We’ll see how things go at Misano, where we’ll be facing a different track layout.”

In the World Championship standings, Diogo Moreira sits 14th with 64 points following a strong weekend at Aragon, making him the second-best Honda rider behind Luca Marini.