Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia fended off hard-charging Frenchman Fabio Quartararo to claim a stunning home MotoGP win at the San Marino Grand Prix at the weekend.
Meanwhile, in the same race, rookie Enea Bastianini took his maiden podium at this 14th round of 18 in the schedule.
Ducati star Bagnaia absorbed massive pressure over the closing stages of the 27-lap Misano race from Yamaha’s Quartararo as his soft rear tyre faded to take successive MotoGP victories in 2021.
Bagnaia nailed his launch from pole position and instantly pulled away by a second on the opening lap, as Ducati team-mate Jack Miller zipped in front of Quartararo for second.
Through the first half of the race, Bagnaia was in firm control as he swelled his lead to well over two seconds – the Italian helped by mistakes for both Miller and Quartararo at turn 13 on lap eight.
By lap nine, Bagnaia’s lead was close to three seconds, but that gap steadily started to come down by a few tenths here and there.
Bagnaia opted for the soft rear tyre as Quartararo went for the medium, and this choice looked to be inspired as Miller’s pace began to drop.
On lap 14, Quartararo carved through on the struggling Miller into the Turn 6 left-hander, with the Frenchman able to get Bagnaia’s lead down to 1.2s with just eight laps to go.
Behind, Avintia rookie Bastianini aced his start from 12th on the grid and was up to fourth by lap lap six having carved past the Honda of six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez at the Quercia left-hander.
Bastianini was setting fastest laps as the race clicked across mid-distance, allowing to break away from the pack behind and hunt down a maiden podium.
Easing up to the back of the struggling Miller, Bastianini scythed past the factory Ducati rider on his two-year-old Avintia-run Desmosedici through the Turn 13 right-hander to move up to third.
At the front, Quartararo continued to erode Bagnaia’s lead, the Ducati rider’s advantage dropping under six tenths with three laps to go as Quartararo piled the pressure on.
Quartararo visibly had better grip than the Ducati ahead, but Bagnaia could keep the Yamaha at bay using the brute power of the GP21 on the straights.
This closed all avenues for Quartararo to make an overtake on the final lap, Bagnaia staying upright to claim his second career MotoGP victory 0.364 seconds ahead of Yamaha’s Quartararo.
Bastianini’s charge towards Quartararo wilted in the latter stages, but the Avintia rider ended up 5.4s clear of the chasing Marquez to claim his first MotoGP podium and the second-ever for the Avintia squad.
Marquez just fended off Suzuki’s Joan Mir to score fourth, though the latter was dropped behind Miller at the chequered flag owing to a track limits penalty.
Pol Espargaro was seventh on the sister factory Honda ahead of his Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix, with KTM’s Brad Binder and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami completing the top 10.
Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro was 11th ahead of a struggling Johann Zarco, the Pramac rider dropping from fifth on the grid to 12th at the chequered flag.
Maverick Vinales scored points on his second Aprilia appearance in 13th, with Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl and LCR’s Alex Marquez rounding out the top 15.
Valentino Rossi recovered from 23rd on the grid to finish 17th on his penultimate appearance in front of his adoring home fans on the Petronas SRT Yamaha, with Tech 3’s Danilo Petrucci 1.1s up the road in 16th.
Franco Morbidelli ended his first race as a factory Yamaha rider 18th ahead of Avintia’s Luca Marini and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira, with Andrea Dovizioso 21st in his first MotoGP appearance since Valencia last year.
Alex Rins crashed out late on while fighting for the top four on his Suzuki, with Iker Lecuona (Tech 3) and Jorge Martin (Pramac) also failing to finish.
Quartararo’s championship lead now stands at 48 points as Bagnaia took another five points out of him with just 100 more up for grabs in 2021.
Photo courtesy Ducati
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MotoGP standings after 14 rounds of 18:
Pos Rider Nat Team Points Diff.
1 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 234
2 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 186 (-48)
3 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 167 (-67)
4 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) 141 (-93)
5 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) 140 (-94)
6 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) 124 (-110)
7 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 104 (-130)
8 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 98 (-136)
9 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 92 (-142)
10 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) 87 (-147)
11 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21) 71 (-163)
12 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 70 (-164)
13 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 68 (-166)
14 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 64 (-170)
15 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19) 61 (-173)
16 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) 50 (-184)
17 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 40 (-194)
18 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 38 (-196)
19 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 37 (-197)
20 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19) 28 (-206)
21 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 28 (-206)
22 Stefan Bradl GER HRC (RC213V) 13 (-221)
23 Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 8 (-226)
24 Dani Pedrosa SPA Red Bull KTM (RC16) 6 (-228)
25 Lorenzo Savadori ITA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 4 (-230)
26 Tito Rabat SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21) 1 (-233)