In the penultimate race of the 2021 MotoGP season, Pecco Bagnaia secured his third win of the season and confirmed second place in the rider standings after the race was red-flagged due to a crash between Tech 3’s Iker Lecuona and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira. The victory was Bagnaia’s redemption after crashing out in the previous race which handed the 2021 World Title to Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. Nevertheless, Pecco’s win secured a second straight Constructors’ Championship Title for Ducati. Here are some of the highlights of the 2021 Algarve GP.
MEN WHO SHINED
The race started with Bagnaia on pole position but the Italian lost ground to Miller who had a better start. Nevertheless, through the first corner itself, Bagnaia went late on the brakes to reclaim his position which he held until the end of the race to claim P1. Next to cross the line was former World Champion Joan Mir who flew past Miller in the opening laps and secured P2. For a moment, everyone thought that there was going to be a new face on the podium – Alex Marquez who had an amazing start to the race – but before the session was red-flagged, Ducati’s Jack Miller made a move on the Spaniard which cost him a podium finish. After multiple DNF’s in his last five races, Johann Zarco was finally back in the game, winning points for Ducati as he crossed the line after Marquez to claim P5.
MEN WHO LEFT US WANTING MORE
After winning the World Championship last time out, Fabio Quarataro failed to cross the finish line of the Algarve GP. The French rider crashed out on Lap 21, which ended his race and also marked his first DNF of the season. Joining him in the DNF list was Danilo Pettrucci who crashed at turn 4 in the initial stages of the race. The big crash to talk about was on Lap 23 when Iker Lecuona and Miguel Oliviera got into massive collusion. Lecuona, who was behind the Portuguese saw a bit of space on the inside and tried to make a move but instead ended up taking both bikes out into the gravel trap as the session was red-flagged.
With both the Riders and Constructors’ championships confirmed for the 2021 season, MotoGP now travels back to Spain next weekend for the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana for its final race of the season. If you are wondering why you still need to watch that race, just remember that it will be the last time you’ll be seeing Valentino Rossi on the grid.
[All Images Credit: MotoGP]
Shashank Iyer