The 5.08km Motorland Aragón circuit was at its hottest of the entire weekend when the 23-lap MotoGP™ race kicked off. Temperatures hit 31 degrees at 14:00 (UTC+2) with 51,181 fans in attendance. 

Following severe tyre wear at the end of Saturday’s Sprint, Bastianini tried a different setting in Warm-Up to aid him over full race distance. ‘La Bestia’ gained a place off the start, before a combination of overtakes and crashes for other riders put him eleventh by lap six.

The Italian wasn’t done there. Gaining confidence with his modified setting lap-by-lap, passes on Joan Mir and Jack Miller pushed Bastianini up to ninth. Two personal best lap times then slashed the 0.9s gap to Diogo Moreira ahead, before a neat pass on the Brazilian on the last lap sealed an excellent eighth place.

Sunday was another chance for Espargaró to get up to speed on the 2026 KTM RC16. The Spaniard had gained three places by lap six of the race as he circulated in 17th, with the 35-year-old gaining a further place before the chequered flag. 

The Tech3 team now has a free weekend to catch its breath before reconvening for the Grand Prix of San Marino at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from September 11-13.

Enea Bastianini: “That was better than I expected! After what happened yesterday, I wasn’t so confident about today. I destroyed the tyre in the Sprint but today that didn’t happen. We tried a different set-up this morning. I didn’t understand it a lot because we didn’t have so much time to get a feeling in Warm-Up, but we kept the setting in for the race and lap-by-lap I was gaining feeling. I wasn’t fast like the top guys, but I could overtake many people. The fight with Diogo at the end was nice, and he’s difficult to overtake as he brakes very late. Our target was to get into the top ten and I saved it with eighth place. So, it wasn’t a bad day in the end!”

Pol Espargaró: “I enjoyed the race. I reduced the gap a bit to two of my team-mates, but not to Pedro (Acosta). I miss a lot of speed but it’s just my second race back. Still when the tyres get used, I suffer a lot. My feeling is that I don’t know how to adapt to these big changes when the tyre performance goes down. I was fourth this morning and was pumped up for the race, but when you have this turbulence riding with other bikes, a full fuel tank and used tyres, you need to know what the bike is going to do. And I’m discovering it like a rookie for the first time! It’s tricky but it’s nice to see the bike is there for Pedro. Hopefully we’ll see Maverick back on the bike in Misano. If not, I’m used to testing and am fast there so let’s see.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “We’ve completed this GP with a brilliant eighth position from Enea. He started with some difficulties and had a bad qualifying position, but he didn’t give up and I must congratulate him for this attitude. We know Enea’s strengths come through in the second half of the race, and passing five riders is a great performance. I’d also like to thank Pol Espargaró. Maybe he suffered from some inconsistency, but he managed some fast laps and can be proud of his weekend. His target was to get in the points, and he only missed out by a few seconds. The bike was quite fast today and Pedro Acosta showed us its potential. We should all open the data and work because what Acosta achieved was excellent. Now it’s time to pack up everything and head to the next race.”