Panaya was ahead of Spaniards Jorge Martin (Ducati-Primac) and six-time world champion Marc Marques (Honda).
Thanks to his first victory of the season in the first sprint race to be held in the first category, the Italian topped the riders’ standings, ahead of Sunday’s regular race, which is the first of a record 21 Grand Prix in the championship.
On the other hand, the French Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, who won the title in 2021, failed to enter the points table by occupying the tenth place, behind his compatriot Johann Zarco (Ducati-Primac), who scored two points thanks to his eighth place.
Marques started from pole position, but the six-time MotoGP world champion might not resist the attempts of the two Ducati riders who were chasing him like his shadow.
“I put in a lot of energy, there are only 12 laps, but we did a great job today. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the most important race of the weekend, it will be more difficult,” admitted the Honda rider.
The sprint race also witnessed a strong collision between the Italians, Enya Bastianini (Ducati) and Luca Marini (Ducati-VR46), as the first was taken to the medical center due to pain in his right arm.
The sprint race takes place on the eve of the main race and will account for half the distance of Sunday’s Grand Prix. At the end of the sprint races, half of the points (12) awarded to the winner of Sunday’s main race (25) will be awarded.
The starting grid for Sunday’s race will be determined according to the results of the Saturday morning trials, and thus Marquess will start from pole position for the second time, hoping to achieve his first victory in the Queen’s category since the fall of 2021 and the 60th in his career.
Marques retained the lead following starting Saturday from first place, ahead of Bagnaia, Martin and Bastianini, while Quartararo fell to fourteenth following a bad start.
Marques lost the lead on the second lap and fell to third place behind Martin and leader Banaya, who quickly ceded first place to Martin at a time when Marques became fifth behind Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) and Australian Jack Miller (KTM).
After that, Bagnaia lost third place to Miller, who started chasing Martin, the leader of the race, amid the latter’s inability to take the lead, which allowed the Australian to reach and overtake him, but he responded and returned to the lead with two laps to go.
But on the last lap, Bagnaia took the lead following a mistake committed by Martin, who fell to second place in front of Marques, who managed to return to third place in front of Miller.
