As Marc Marquez heads for the US, the Repsol Honda Team prepare to forge ahead with Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl in Barcelona.

The MotoGP train doesn’t stop as it arrives in Barcelona for round nine of the 2022 season. In Mugello, it was announced that Marc Marquez would have a fourth surgery on his right humerus and will be absent from the Catalan GP. Stefan Bradl will once again take over the reigns of the RC213V in his place.

There are none that can challenge the Catalan Grand Prix as being Pol Espargaro’s home race, the #44 having been born and raised just a short distance from the track in Granollers. After several difficult rounds Espargaro is eager to steady himself and put on a show for the home fans and perform at the maximum possible level. His best premier class result at home is fifth place, achieved in 2016 and last year he suffered an unfortunate DNF aboard the RC213V. Despite not achieving the end results he has aimed for, the past races have shown signs of progress and flashes of what he and the bike are capable of.

Stefan Bradl will once again join Pol Espargaro inside the Repsol Honda Team garage, their fifth race as teammates. This is the third time that Bradl will race in 2022, having taken 19th in Argentina and suffering a DNF in Jerez while running as a wildcard. As with many circuits on the calendar, Bradl has a strong and consistent point-scoring history at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Missing points just once in his six premier class races there and with a best finish of fifth in 2013 and 2014.

Monday after the race also presents the second in-season MotoGP test of the year, both Espargaro and Bradl set to continue development work on the RC213V alongside the rest of the MotoGP grid.

Pol Espargaro

“I know that the home fans will give me an extra boost this weekend. After some hard races, this is just what I need to get our year back to where it should be. I arrive as motivated and as focused as ever and from Free Practice 1 we will be working to achieve our goals. There’s still a lot of races left to run and what we find in these races can help us a lot at the end of the year. Also with the test on Monday, we will have a lot of bike time to be able to understand everything.”

Stefan Bradl

“First I want to wish Marc all the best with his operation and his recovery. I am here for everything that HRC and the Repsol Honda Team need until Marc’s return. We have all seen the level in MotoGP, so we know the challenge that is ahead of us but I am confident that working with Honda and the team we can achieve something. Let’s see what the weekend brings, it will be important to get in a lot of laps and prepare well for Monday’s test.”

MotoGP 2022

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 122 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
2 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA 114 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
3 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA 94 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati
4 Bagnaia Francesco 62 ITA 81 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati
5 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 75 Pramac Racing Ducati
6 Rins Alex 42 SPA 69 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
7 Binder Brad 33 RSA 65 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
8 Miller Jack 43 AUS 63 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati
9 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 60 Repsol Honda Team Honda
10 Mir Joan 36 SPA 56 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
11 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR 50 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
12 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA 40 Repsol Honda Team Honda
13 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 38 LCR Honda Honda
14 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 37 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
15 Martin Jorge 89 SPA 31 Pramac Racing Ducati
16 Marini Luca 10 ITA 31 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati
17 Bezzecchi Marco 73 ITA 30 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati
18 Marquez Alex 73 SPA 20 LCR Honda Honda
19 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 19 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
20 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA 8 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha
21 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA 8 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati
22 Binder Darryn 40 RSA 6 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha
23 Gardner Remy AUS 3
24 Fernandez Raul SPA 0
25 Pirro Michele ITA 0
26 Savadori Lorenzo 32 ITA 0 Aprilia Racing Test Team Aprilia
27 Bradl Stefan 6 GER 0 HRC Test Team Honda
Location Information

In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep… read more.

Length 4.627 kilometres / 2.875 miles
Width 12 metres
Left corners 5
Right corners 8
Longest straight 1.047 kilometres / 0.651 miles
Constructed 1991
Modified 2018

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalunya, Spain - View in Google Maps

www.circuitcat.com

Records

Pole Position 1m38.190s (170.7km/h) Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia, 2024)
Race Lap 1m39.664 (168.2km/h) Pedro Acosta (KTM, 2024)
Race Time 40'11.726 (166.8km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati,2024)
2024 Sprint Winner Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
2024 Race Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)