Aprilia made its return to MotoGP in 2015 after retiring at the end of a miserable season in 2004, with its first podium climbing to Silverstone just last year after several seasons as the slowest manufacturer in the top division.
Poleman Espargaro made a late throw from the line and allowed second Jorge Martin in the Pramac Ducati to take the lead.
Ducati rider Luca Marini was second for a while, but was intercepted by Espargaro in turn 2, while a Pol Espargaro with a quick start in the factory Honda came in fourth.
The shuffle of the first round gave Martin a 0.4-second lead, while reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo fell to the margins of the top 10 from ninth.
Quartararo would continue to pull in the pack, dropping to 13th place in the early stages, with Martin and Aleix Espargaro one second behind the riders.
Martin would sit at the front of the pack for the first 17 of 25 laps, absorbing the pressure from Espargaro – who ran wide at turn 1 in lap 10 and fell second behind – before the first raid on his lead.
Espargaro nailed his run from turn 3 with his right hand and took advantage of a shake of his head for Martin’s Ducati to advance to turn 5. However, the Aprilia rider ran wide and allowed Martin to pass backwards. Meanwhile, Suzuki’s Alex Rins looked back in just over a second.
Espargaro tried again in turn 5 in the 20th lap and once again ran out. But on the next tour, the Aprilia rider made the perfect block pass to take the lead. Although he ran away in the first lap in the 23rd lap, Espargaro was able to get away from Martin during the last lap to secure an emotional first win by 0.807 seconds.
Martin made a disastrous start to the 2022 campaign, leaving the Qatar and Indonesia GPs to earn his first points of the year in second place, with Alex Rins opening Suzuki’s account in third.
Joan Mir finished fourth at its sister factory Suzuki, while Francesco Bagnaia in the Ducati factory team was fifth and started 13th. KTM Brad Binder was 0.352 seconds behind Bagnaia in sixth, with Maverick Vinales seventh in second place in Aprilia.
Quartararo bounced back to eighth place after a disappointing start, but fell 3.6 seconds away from his former Yamaha teammate, the Vinales.
VR46 rookie Marco Bezzecchi won ninth place in his best career at Ducati in 2021, with Enea Bastianini conceding the championship lead in 10th place with Gresini Ducati. Marini dropped from third place on the grid to 11th in the checkered flag, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, KTM’s Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller (Ducati) and LCR’s Alex Marquez vying for the final points.
A late collision for Pol Espargaro in turn 2 took him out of fourth place, while Johann Zarco also fell in turn 2.
Technical problems deprived Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and RNF Racing Andrea Dovizioso of the opportunity to fight for points.
Aleix Espargaro is now leading the championship for the first time in his MotoGP career, the Aprilia rider seven points behind Binder, with Bastianini nine points behind in third place.
