Bastianini took his first win in MotoGP for the Gresini squad in its first race back as an independent team just over a year on from team founder Fausto Gresini’s death after his long battle with COVID-19.
The Italian kept clear of a late charge from Brad Binder on the factory KTM, who had a similar stunning race in the 2022 opener, ahead of long-time leader Honda’s Pol Espargaro who faded to third after running wide at Turn 1 when fighting Bastianini.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro narrowly missed out on the podium behind his brother Pol, with six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez in fifth for Honda on his first race since being ruled out with vision problems.
Despite promising practice pace, Suzuki duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins only managed sixth and seventh respectively, as Pramac’s Johann Zarco mugged defending MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo at the finish line by 0.007s to take eighth place.
It was a nightmare race for the factory Ducati squad, with Jack Miller retiring early due to a technical fault with his GP22 while team-mate Francesco Bagnaia crashed on lap 12, taking out Pramac’s Jorge Martin while trying to overtake the Spaniard.
Takaaki Nakagami completed the top 10 on the LCR Honda ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the factory Yamaha, with Maverick Vinales recovering from 19th to 12th for Aprilia ahead of VR46’s Luca Marini, RNF Racing’s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner who rounded out the points places.
2022 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix – race results
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati | 22 | 42’13.198 | ||
| 2 |  Brad Binder |
 |
KTM | 22 | 42’13.544 | 0.346 |
| 3 |  Pol Espargaro |
 |
Honda | 22 | 42’14.549 | 1.351 |
| 4 | Aleix Espargaro |
 |
Aprilia | 22 | 42’15.440 | 2.242 |
| 5 | Marc Marquez |
 |
Honda | 22 | 42’17.297 | 4.099 |
| 6 | Joan Mir |
 |
Suzuki | 22 | 42’18.041 | 4.843 |
| 7 | Alex Rins |
 |
Suzuki | 22 | 42’22.008 | 8.810 |
| 8 |  Johann Zarco |
 |
Ducati | 22 | 42’23.734 | 10.536 |
| 9 | Fabio Quartararo |
 |
Yamaha | 22 | 42’23.741 | 10.543 |
| 10 |  Takaaki Nakagami |
 |
Honda | 22 | 42’28.165 | 14.967 |
| 11 |  Franco Morbidelli |
|
Yamaha | 22 | 42’29.910 | 16.712 |
| 12 | Maverick Viñales |
 |
Aprilia | 22 | 42’36.414 | 23.216 |
| 13 | Luca Marini |
Ducati | 22 | 42’40.481 | 27.283 | |
| 14 | Andrea Dovizioso |
Yamaha | 22 | 42’40.572 | 27.374 | |
| 15 |  Remy Gardner |
KTM | 22 | 42’54.305 | 41.107 | |
| 16 | Darryn Binder |
Yamaha | 22 | 42’54.317 | 41.119 | |
| 17 | Fabio Di Giannantonio |
Ducati | 22 | 42’54.547 | 41.349 | |
| 18 | Raúl Fernández |
KTM | 22 | 42’55.555 | 42.357 | |
| Jorge Martin |
 |
Ducati | 11 | 21’13.800 | 11 Laps | |
| Francesco Bagnaia |
 |
Ducati | 11 | 21’13.835 | 11 Laps | |
 Miguel Oliveira |
 |
KTM | 10 | 19’19.886 | 12 Laps | |
| Alex Marquez |
|
Honda | 9 | 17’25.782 | 13 Laps | |
| Marco Bezzecchi |
Ducati | 6 | 11’41.321 | 16 Laps | ||
| Jack Miller |
 |
Ducati | 6 | 11’42.306 | 16 Laps | |
| View full results | ||||||
2022 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix – fastest race lap
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Lap | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enea Bastianini |
Ducati | 17 | 1’54.338 | |
| 2 | Aleix Espargaro |
 |
Aprilia | 9 | 1’54.465 |
| 3 | Brad Binder |
|
KTM | 9 | 1’54.484 |
| 4 | Pol Espargaro |
 |
Honda | 11 | 1’54.534 |
| 5 | Alex Rins |
 |
Suzuki | 3 | 1’54.610 |
| 6 | Marc Marquez |
 |
Honda | 10 | 1’54.643 |
| 7 | Francesco Bagnaia |
 |
Ducati | 3 | 1’54.654 |
| 8 | Johann Zarco |
 |
Ducati | 20 | 1’54.671 |
| 9 | Joan Mir |
 |
Suzuki | 11 | 1’54.689 |
| 10 | Jorge Martin |
 |
Ducati | 3 | 1’54.771 |
| 11 | Miguel Oliveira |
 |
KTM | 9 | 1’54.831 |
| 12 | Franco Morbidelli |
 |
Yamaha | 8 | 1’54.853 |
| 13 | Fabio Quartararo |
 |
Yamaha | 6 | 1’54.916 |
| 14 | Takaaki Nakagami |
 |
Honda | 11 | 1’55.080 |
| 15 | Alex Marquez |
 |
Honda | 9 | 1’55.205 |
| 16 | Maverick Viñales |
 |
Aprilia | 8 | 1’55.210 |
| 17 | Andrea Dovizioso |
Yamaha | 13 | 1’55.415 | |
| 18 | Marco Bezzecchi |
Ducati | 3 | 1’55.446 | |
| 19 | Luca Marini |
Ducati | 4 | 1’55.480 | |
| 20 | Jack Miller |
|
Ducati | 5 | 1’55.520 |
| 21 | Darryn Binder |
Yamaha | 4 | 1’55.591 | |
| 22 | Raúl Fernández |
KTM | 9 | 1’55.954 | |
| 23 | Remy Gardner |
KTM | 3 | 1’55.974 | |
| 24 | Fabio Di Giannantonio |
Ducati | 3 | 1’55.982 | |
| View full results | |||||
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