MotoGP Mugello: Fabio Quartararo takes a comfortable victory in Italy

Following a brief battle with Johann Zarco, Quartararo was able to pull the pin and ride off into the distance. The Frenchman would cross the line with a comfortable 2.952s advantage over the field, however his lead had been as high as four seconds.

The Frenchman has taken things to another level in 2021 with four pole positions and three victories from the opening six rounds. Quartararo would have four victories to his name had it not been for an arm pump issue at Jerez. He now holds a 24-point advantage over Zarco in the standings.

Like Moto2 earlier in the day, there was controversy involved for the remaining podium places. Miguel Oliveira crossed the line in second but was demoted one position for exceeding track limits at turn five on the final lap. As a result, reigning champion Joan Mir was initially promoted to second. However, it was then revealed that Mir also exceeded track limits, and as a result Oliveira’s second spot was reinstated.

Zarco clinched fourth spot after struggling for grip from the middle of the race onwards. Brad Binder ensure that both Red Bull KTMs were inside the top five, whilst Jack Miller was sixth.

Aleix Espargaro secured seventh for Aprilia, ahead of Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci. Valentino Rossi was able to take advantage of fallers ahead of him to sneak into the top 10 at his beloved Mugello. Iker Lecouna missed out on 10th by just 0.004s on the second Tech3 KTM.

Pol Espargaro struggled in 12th spot ahead of Pramac Racing’s Michele Pirro and LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez. Lorenzo Savadori was the final point scorer today.

In a bizarre incident, Enea Bastianini crashed on the warmup lap. The Italian was seen on the floor on the approach to his grid slot, whilst his race suit’s airbags had been deployed. Replays later showed that Bastianini had ran into the back of Zarco, who may have either been engaging the Desmocedici’s start device or warming up his brakes. Bastianini slammed his brakes on and was thrown over the handlebars. The incident is currently under investigation.

Marc Marquez crashed out of 10th spot at turn three on lap two after hitting the back of Binder.Franco Morbidelli had to run off the track to avoid Marquez’s Repsol Honda RC213V and consequently finished 16^th.

Brad Binder

Alex Rins’ season went from bad to worse with a few laps remaining. The Suzuki rider crashed out of third at turn 15 on lap 20. It’s Rins’ fourth crash in four races and he remains on 23 points from six races.

Moments later Takaaki Nakagami’s race came to a premature end. The LCR Honda rider lost the front on the exit of turn 13.