Gearbox trouble curtails Bagnaia's recovery drive

Bagnaia having started from 25th jumped six places on the opening lap, but the leading pack slowly began to disappear into the distance.

He eventually finished outside the points in 21st, describing the weekend as the worst of his otherwise exceptional season.

"This has probably been the most difficult weekend of the year,’’ he admitted. “We were very unlucky with the gear shifter in the race and it is difficult to get a good result with that.

“I feel bad about this result at home, and we have to understand why we had so many problems with the gearbox this weekend.”

Bagnaia slipped to fifth in the riders standings following a no-score in Misano, but the Italian hasn’t lost hope of finishing second in the classifications.

“I am fifth in the championship and we are not far behind [Enea] Bastianini, but it would have been better to take six or seven points from this race,’’ he said.

“The thirteen points that separate us from second place will be difficult to recover. “

Bagnaia’s Aspar Mahindra teammate Jorge Martin did not take part in the race, after suffering a fracture in his right foot during qualifying.

The Spaniard is expected to recover by the next round of the Moto3 championship in Aragon.

Fight back in Aragon

Although Mufaddal Choonia would have preferred to oversee a better result at Mahindra’s 100th Moto3 outing, the Indian has his head held high - and is keen to come back stronger at the next race in Aragon.

“Today we realised, once again, how cruel racing at this level can be,’’ Choonia said. "We came into our 100th race on the back of a win, a pole position and a second place podium.

“But we go back from our 100th race without points. However, one bad weekend will certainly not dent our resolve to keep improving and pushing at the front end. We hope to get back stronger in Aragon.”

Manzi lead Mahindra rider

Wildcard entrant Stefano Manzi, who took a surprise fourth place result at Silverstone last weekend, was classified as the highest Mahindra rider in 16th position.

Manzi’s bike was adorned in the Indian tri-colour to celebrate Mahindra’s 100th grand prix.

Elsewhere, the two Peugeot riders Albert Arenas and John McPhee finished in 18th and 19th positions, just ahead of the aforementioned Bagnaia.

Lorenzo Petrarca finished 24th in the leading Team Italia entry, ahead of CIP’s Fabio Spiranelli and teammate Stefano Valtulini. 

Darryn Binder, Tatsuki Suzuki and Marcos Ramirez were all not classified, while wildcard Alex Fabbri’s race came to an end on the opening lap.