Spanish MotoGP Race Results | Bagnaia controls Quartararo for Jerez win

Pecco Bagnaia has given his 2022 MotoGP World Championship title aspirations a welcome boost with an imperious first victory of the season in the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.

Arriving in Spain bidding to turn his fortunes around after a difficult start to a season he began as favourite, Bagnaia soaked up persistent pressure from Fabio Quartararo throughout but never allowed the defending champion a look at overtaking him.

However, second for the Yamaha man helps him move clear in the overall standings after Alex Rins - who he shared the lead with coming into the race - finished down the order.

Starting from his first pole position of 2022, Bagnaia needed a good getaway to prevent Quartararo from getting the crucial jump but despite the Frenchman also moving off the line well, it was the Italian that would get the hole-shot.

From here Bagnaia got to work, pulling Quartararo along as they quickly built a large margin to the pack behind him.

However, while Quartararo never slipped more than a few tenths behind his rival, he never looked close enough to mount a big attack.

If the lead battle never quite got going, the three-way tussle for the final podium spot instead consumed much of the attention.

Headed up by Jack Miller for the majority of the race, he repelled a close-following Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro until with six laps remaining, the Honda rider slipped underneath the Ducati man.

Espargaro followed suit into the final corner, just as Marquez let the front slide out and send him wide, allowing the Aprilia to get by into third place too, while Miller retook fourth.

With Espargaro released, he romped home to a comfortable third, while Marquez snatched back fourth from Miller on the final lap.

Behind them, Joan Mir kept a watching brief but never looked involved in the battle ahead as he settled for sixth, while Takaaki Nakagami scored his best finish of the year in seventh on the LCR Honda.

Enea Bastianini kept a low profile en route to eighth, while Marco Bezzecchi firmed his status as the best of the MotoGP rookies with a mature ride to ninth. Brad Binder completed the top ten on the best of the KTMs.

Outside the top ten, Pol Espargaro could only managed 11th, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, Alex Marquez and Maverick Vinales, with Franco Morbidelli once again proving the flip side of Yamaha's fortunes in a lowly 15th.

Elsewhere, Alex Rins endured a torrid afternoon as he struggled to make headway from his 14th on the grid, before an off-track moment early on consigned him to 19th at the finish.

Similarly, it was a terrible afternoon for Pramac Racing with Johann Zarco slipping off on lap eight, while Jorge Martin endured his fourth crash in six races to no doubt raise more doubts about his expected promotion to the Ducati factory squad.

2022 Spanish MotoGP | Jerez | Race Results