Quartararo romps to Mugello MotoGP victory

There were muted celebrations on the podium of the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello as the paddock paid tribute to Jason Dupasquier, the Swiss Moto3 rider who succumbed to injuries sustained in a late crash in qualifying the previous day.

On the top step, it was Fabio Quartararo who became the first man in 13 years at the Mugello circuit to win from pole position, and he did it with a 2.5-second buffer back to Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM). And while the Frenchman looked strong all weekend, his win was made easier when Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) crashed out of the lead on just the second lap of the race.

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It was a dramatic first five minutes; Enea Bastianini (Avintia Ducati) slammed into the rear of Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) at the end of the warm-up lap putting him out of the race before it had even started, and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) tagged the Red Bull KTM of Brad Binder and slid off, just a couple of corners before Bagnaia’s race-winning hopes ended in the gravel.

The ride of the weekend must go to Oliveira who battled with Zarco in the early stages and then held off a late charge by reigning world champ Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) to finish second, it was a clever ride from the Portuguese rider who hasn’t had a top-10 finish all season.

Behind him, Mir, who qualified down in ninth place, made his trademark late charge through the field with teammate Alex Rins. Rins, who was looking make amends for the crashing out of the previous three races, looked strong, but crashed for the fourth consecutive time with just five laps to go, once again while in podium contention.

Zarco held on for fourth and was the top independent team rider, and Binder finished fifth ahead of Aussie Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati) in sixth, who said the wind during the race didn’t allow him to feel comfortable enough to ride the bike how he wanted.

Aleix Espargaro (Gresini Aprilia), Maverick Vinales (Monster Yamaha), Danilo Petrucci (Tech 3 KTM) and Valentino Rossi (SRT Petronas Yamaha) rounded out the top 10.

The result puts Quartararo (105 points) firmly in charge of the standings, with a 24-point buffer back to Zarco (81) in second. Bagnaia’s (79) crash means he drops down to third. Miller (74) stays in contention in fourth place, 31 points adrift, ahead of Mir (65) in fifth.

Australia’s Remy Gardner dug deep in the final stages of the Italian Moto2 Grand Prix to score his first victory of the 2021 season and to take a six-point lead into this weekend’s race at Catalunya.

It was his Red Bull Ajo KTM teammate Raul Fernandez who led for 20.5 of the 21-lap race from pole position – at one stage by as much as two seconds – and while Gardner was relegated to third by title rival Sam Lowes (EG MarcVDS) mid-way through the race, the Briton crashed with six laps to go.

With a fire in his belly and more life in his rear tyre than his teammate up ahead, Gardner made his move at Turn 10 of the final lap and held on to take the win by just 0.014s, the second-closest Moto2 winning margin after Tom Luthi beat Franco Morbidelli by a whisker to the line at Phillip Island in 2016. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing) beat Marco Bezzechi (Sky Racing Team VR46) to the line by 0.020s, but was denied the podium celebration after being demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the last lap.

The result takes Gardner’s points tally to 114, six more than Fernandez on 108. Marco Bezzechi (88 points) is in third ahead of Same Lowes (48) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (60).

Dennis Foggia (Leopard Honda) celebrated his first victory of the season in Moto3 when he held off Juame Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) at the line by 0.036s, with Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) picking up his first podium in the category in third place.

After a 15-rider leading group all race long, it was the slipstream down the long start-finish straight that made the difference in the end. Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KYM Ajo) was fourth, ahead of Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Romano Fenati (Sterildarda Max Racing Team), John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

Acosta, on 111 points, still has a commanding 52-point lead over Masia (59), Sasaki (57) moves up to third overall ahead of Sergio Garcia (Valresa GasGas Aspar Team) and Fenati who are tied on 56 points.

The series now moves to Catalunya for Round 7 which will get underway this coming Friday.