The 2021 Spanish GP lived up to its lofty expectations. Jack Miller celebrated his first MotoGP victory with Ducati with his Pecco Bagnaia completing a Ducati 1-2 and also move into the lead in the Championship after Fabio Quartararo finished a distant 13th despite leading Miller through the initial laps.
THE MEN THAT SHINED
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Australian rider, Jack Miller cruised past everyone to win the 2021 Jerez GP. Miller took the early lead on former Championship leader Fabio Quartararo who started to lose pace over the course of the race. This victory was Ducati’s first win at Jerez de La Frontera since Loris Capirossi won in 2006 while Bagnaia’s second place finish ahead of his fellow countryman Franco Morbidelli gives him a 2 point lead over Quartararo. Takaaki Nakagami crossed the line fourth, his season-best MotoGP finish, followed by reigning Champion, Joan Mir on his Suzuki. Alex Espeargaro was next in line to seal a top-six spot while Maverick Viñales and Johann Zarco finished P7 and P8 respectively. All eyes were also on 6-time champion Marc Marquez who returned after breaking his arm in the Spanish GP last year. The Spaniard also crashed his bike during FP3 and on the warmup lap and while it wasn’t a memorable outing, he crossed the line P9, adding seven points to his tally, while the final place inside the top ten went to Marquez’s teammate Pol Espargaro.
RIDERS THAT LEFT US WANTING MORE
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It was a tough weekend for Alex Marquez whose Spanish GP came to a very early end after the Spaniard slid out on the opening lap of the race and was fortunate enough to walk away from the accident without any serious injury. The rookie, Enea Bastianini retired on the eleventh lap and it was a forgettable day for Brand Binder and Alex Rins who were the other two early fallers involved in separate incidents. The most shocking performance of the evening was from the young Yamaha rider, Fabio Quartararo, who had a massive lead after the initial five laps but soon evaporated in pretty bizarre fashion to see Miller jump ahead with eight laps to go before a flurry of moves in a matter of corners left him sliding down to 13th at the chequered flag, which cost him his lead at the top of the World Championship too.
STANDINGS
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Riders:
Jerez brought a significant change in the Championship battle with Bagnaia now holding a two-point lead over Quartararo who is on 64 points. Maverick Vinales, Joan Mir, and Johann Zarco are the next three in line with a single point separating the three riders. Race winner Jack Miller moved up to 6th with 39 points with Alex Esperago and Franco Morbidelli right on his tail with 35 and 33 points respectively.
Constructors:
Yamaha leads the constructor’s championship with 91 points despite having a poor Spanish GP. A massive 25 points for Ducati saw them edge closer to their rivals bringing the gap to just six points. A huge gap of 32 points then separates Suzuki from Ducati who are in third place followed by Aprilia, Honda, and KTM with 35, 33 and 27 points respectively.
The action now moves to France for the Shark Grand Prix de France at Le Mans on the 16th of May, where Danilo Petrucci won on his Ducati in 2020.
[Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool]
Shashank Iyer