Fabio Quartararo dominated the Italian GP at the crown jewel for many MotoGP riders, Mugello but it was a sombre weekend as the sport mourned the death of 19yr old Moto3 rider, Jason Dupasquier.
The 2021 Italian GP kicked off with a two-minute moment of solidarity for Jason Dupasquier, the swiss Moto3 rider who passed away after a fatal crash at the end of Moto3 qualifying, the sport’s first fatality since Luis Salom died at the Catalonia Grand Prix in Barcelona in 2016. Fabio Quartararo dedicated his race victory to the young Swiss international as he put an end to Ducati’s win streak at the Italian Grand Prix after crossing the line ahead of KTM rider Miguel Oliveira and Joan Mir of Suzuki. An early crash for Marc Marquez saw him retire from the race for the second time in succession with signs that his body is still coming to terms with the pressures of racing at the highest level. Here are some of the other highlights of the Italian GP:
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MEN THAT SHINED
Fabio Quartararo started from pole position after a record-breaking lap in qualifying but the Frenchman fell behind Pecco Bagnaia through the initial laps. A crash for the impressive Italian on the Ducati saw Quartararo regain his position up front and he then maintained it to win his first-ever Italian GP. Quartararo crossed the finish line over two and a half seconds ahead of Miguel Oliveira in second, his first podium since the 2020 Portugese Grand Prix, with reigning world champion Joan Mir completing the podium after starting 9th on his Suzuki.
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Johann Zarco finished fourth setting a new race lap record of 1.46.810 and behind him, the battle between Jack Miller and Brad Binder for P5 was perhaps one of the best battles we have seen this season. The two started P5 and P6 respectively and finished the race with them swapping positions all along, with the South African breaking the Mugello top speed record, clocking an astonishing 362.4 kmph. Next to finish were the two Spaniards, Alex Esperago and Maverick Vinales followed by Daniel Pettruci who claimed 9th. Valentino Rossi had his best finish of the year as we saw the Italian bringing home his Yamaha in 10th at his home race, despite starting at the back end of the grid.
Quartararo said: “It was a strange day, a lot of emotion, every time I passed turn nine I was thinking about Jason. It’s not a great feeling, you achieve a win but we lose one of our friends.”
RIDERS THAT LEFT US WANTING MORE
Pecco Bagnaia who started on the front row was one of the favorites to win his home Grand Prix at the Italian GP, but things didn’t go as planned for the Ducati rider.
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Pecco did well to take the lead off Fabio Quartararo on the first lap but disaster struck him and his team when he fell off his bike on Lap 2, ending his race. The other man that struggled was Champion, Marc Marquez who, since making his return to racing, is finding it difficult to get to grips with his Honda as he retired from the race after having a fall early. This was the 8-time World Champion’s second retirement out of his four races this season. Alex Rins who had his eyes on a podium finish tried to get past Jack Miller at turn 14 but ended up having a bad crash which put an end to his Italian Grand Prix too.
STANDINGS:
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RIDERS:
Fabio Quartararo extended his championship lead by 24 points ahead of fellow countrymen Johann Zarco who finds himself second with 81 points, being the only rider to be within a race win of Quartararo. A crash for Bagnaia saw him drop to third just four points ahead of the in-form Jack Miller who is on 74 points. One point separates Joan Mir (65) and Maverick Vinales(64) who are 5th and 6th with Aleix Esperago, Brad Binder, and Franco Morbidelli next in line with 35, 33, and 29 points respectively. After a podium finish, Miguel Oliveira wraps up the top ten on 29 points.
CONSTRUCTORS:
The Ducati team not only had a poor race, they also lost their three-point championship lead to Yamaha who currently lead the standings with 132 points, 9 ahead of Ducati. Nothing changes when it comes to the gap between the top two and others. Suzuki is still 54 points behind Ducati but their bike and speed look promising, which could help them narrow the gap in the races to come. A win for Miguel Oliveira took KTM ahead of Honda who have a 9 point gap between them and Aprilia.
MotoGP will now be back on track at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya on the 6th of June.
[Image Credit: Yamaha Racing]
Shashank Iyer