VR46 Ducati MotoGP rider Fabio Di Giannantonio took victory in a twice red-flagged Catalan Grand Prix, in which Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco suffered injuries in separate crashes.
Di Giannantonio won the 12-lap race - effectively the third running of this grand prix - after the stoppages, recording his first grand prix win since 2023 and the first grand prix win for Valentino Rossi's team since that same season.
Red flag one
The race was initially suspended for around half an hour due to a terrible crash on the run to Turn 10, caused by the speed mismatch between Marquez and leader Pedro Acosta, whose KTM had suddenly cut out.
The resulting impact sent Marquez's now out-of-control Ducati off track, but he miraculously avoided being hit by the bike or being thrown into the circuit barriers. Instead, he suffered a major impact with the ground that required him to be hospitalised - albeit with confirmation that he is conscious.
There was a lot more collateral, too, with Raul Fernandez and Johann Zarco both taking the subsequent restart in pain after being pelted by debris, and Di Giannantonio also hurt after Marquez's Ducati came apart in the gravel, the rear wheel coming off and taking Di Giannantonio down in the Turn 10 braking zone.
Both Di Giannantonio (with bruising on his hand, as reported by VR46 team manager Pablo Nieto) and Acosta were eligible to take the restart as they rode their damaged bikes to the pits, with Acosta - his rear wheel damaged in the impact - needing the help of some pushing from first team-mate Brad Binder and then Pramac Yamaha duo Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Red flag two
The first restart, in which Acosta on his spare bike maintained the lead, led to an immediate suspension of activities again.
Zarco, who had been treating his foot with ice during the preceding red flag as a result of the aforementioned debris hit, got his braking wrong into Turn 1 and clattered into the back of Honda stablemate Luca Marini.
It caused both to crash, but it also threw Zarco into Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati, the French rider getting trapped in the red bike and dragged through the gravel.
It meant another lengthy stoppage, again for a (declared conscious) rider to be treated on-site, before Zarco was taken to the medical centre by ambulance.
The final 12 laps
When the race restarted again, Acosta kept the lead again - though he came under early pressure from the Aprilias of Jorge Martin and Fernandez.
But Martin and Fernandez swiftly exited contention as the latter lunged the former into Turn 4 and they went into the gravel together, both out of contention and the works Aprilia team incandescent at the Trackhouse rider.
Martin, who was on course to take the championship lead with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi struggling, instead ended the day a provisional 13 points off the lead - and was seen pushing team manager Paolo Bonora in anger upon arriving to the box.
The intra-Aprilia calamity established Honda's Joan Mir as Acosta's closest rivals, and it quickly became clear Acosta had no pace at all to break away.
But while Mir laboured to get past, his Honda's straightline speed seemingly insufficient despite a consistent advantage in the final sector, once Di Giannantonio got through on the Honda Acosta's bid was in true trouble.
On the third-to-last lap, Di Giannantonio attacked Acosta into the Turn 10 hairpin - where he'd also cleared Mir. Once ahead, it took him virtually no time to escape and secure the win.
Mir and Gresini Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer, in by far his strongest showing since his off-season leg break, then also worked their way past Acosta at the start of the final lap - and a charging Ai Ogura then attacked him into the final corner, but ended up taking Acosta down.
Mir, however, is among a number of riders under investigation for a potential tyre pressure infringement. The same is true for fourth-placed finisher Pecco Bagnaia, who had briefly flirted with joining the lead pack despite taking a hit in that second red-flag crash - but ultimately dropped back.
With a three-second penalty for Ogura and penalties potentially looming for Mir and Bagnaia, Bezzecchi could yet inherit an out-of-nowhere podium finish, despite having clearly laboured for pace through the race - in which he was seen badly overcooking the Turn 10 entry in the initial phase of the race.
Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, who finished seventh on the road, could inherit a spectacular fourth-place finish, with Marini potentially in position to take over fifth.
