While Miguel Oliviera claimed his first victory this season with Johann Zarco and Jack Miller filling the podium spots, local heroes Pol Espargaro, Aleix Espargaro, and Marc Marquez all crashed out of their home race at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya.
MEN THAT SHINED
After a poor start to the 2021 MotoGP season, KTM is finally finding its way back at the top with Miguel Oliviera claiming a fine first win of 2021 and back-to-back podium finishes this season. Just a chassis update and a new fuel supplier seems to have turned KTM’s season around.
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Johann Zarco on his Pramac Ducati came home second after a brilliant battle with Miguel Oliviera over the final few laps of the race while Australian, Jack Miller who had a brilliant qualifying session, finished the race in 3rd to continue his good run in 2021. Defending MotoGP champion Joan Mir found pace on race day after starting P10, as the Spaniard picked up speed with a strong ride to bring his Suzuki home in 4th followed by Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo in P5 and P6. Pecco Bagnaia seemed a bit off his pace on the Ducati but still managed to cross the line in the seventh position and chasing him down was the other KTM of, Brad Binder who has shown massive improvement in the last couple of races. Enea Bastianini who started the race P17 did extremely well to jostle for positions and seal a top 10 spot in the 2021 Catalunya Grand Prix.
MEN THAT LEFT US WANTING MORE
Despite claiming pole position for the fifth consecutive time, Fabio Quartararo just couldn’t manage his tires well enough and lost early places to Miguel Oliviera and Johann Zarco.
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Over the final few laps, the Frenchman’s airbag popped up and he decided to remove his chest protection which fell on the track. As a result, Quartararo was given a 3 second time penalty which was added to his time after the race, dropping him to 6th. Marc Marquez was having one of the best races of his season as we saw him climb up to P5 from P13, but things just didn’t come together till the end and another crash meant it’s the first time in the 8 time World Champion’s career that he has had three consecutive DNFs. To add to Honda’s misery, Pol Espargaro also went crashed of the race, as did his brother Aleix Espargaro on his Aprilia. It was the same story for Valentino Rossi again as the Italian legend crashed with 8 laps remaining.
STANDINGS
RIDERS:
Fabio Quartararo (115) still remains the leader in the rider’s championship but a second-place finish for Johann Zarco (101) means that the points gap has been reduced to just 14 points. A P3 finish for Jack Miller (90) took the Australian two points ahead of Pecco Bagnaia who finds himself in fourth with 88 points. The battle between two Spainards, Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales gets interesting after every race with just three points now separating the two riders. Back-to-back podiums saw Miguel Oliviera slowly moving up the championship standings, currently in seventh spot with 54 points followed by Aleix Esperago, Brad Binder, and Franco Morbidelli wrapping up the top 10.
CONSTRUCTORS:A double podium finish for Ducati and a poor race for Yamaha sees both constructors level on 143 points, with both stretching their lead to 60 points to KTM who are third in the constructor’s championship with 83 points, just one ahead of Suzuki. A poor race for Honda saw them fall to 5th with 52 points, just 7 points clear of last-place team, Aprilia.
[Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool]
Shashank Iyer