Ducati’s Jack Miller secured his first win in five years after a dominant Fabio Quartararo lost the performance of his Yamaha M1. This is how the Spanish GP 2021 developed.
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This is the second win in Jack Miller’s career and the first with Ducati
Ducati’s Jack Miller secured a spectacular victory in the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. The Australian rider’s last win was the 2016 Dutch TT, making the Spanish GP its first win in five years. The driver prevailed against the pole starters Yamahas of Fabio Quartaro and Franco Morbidelli as well as against stable mate Francesco Bagnaia, who finished second and secured Ducati a 1: 2 result. Quartararo led for most of the race but struggled with the finals and dropped him to 13th at the end of the race.
Also read: MotoGP: Quartararo Pips Morbidelli takes pole position for the Spanish GP
Miller crossed the finish line 1,912 seconds ahead of Bagnaia while Quartararo fell to P13
Quartararo started the race in pole position, but Miller got off to a better start when the lights turned green and he took the lead over the Yamahas. Quartararo dropped to fourth behind Morbidelli and Bagnaia on the first lap, but stormed past the Ducati rider on the second lap, followed by his former SRT team-mate one lap later. The Frenchman overtook Miller on lap 4 to take the lead and started stretching his legs.
The driver seemed confident of taking his third straight win at Jerez and built a 1.5 second advantage over Miller over the next couple of laps. The Ducati rider had the performance advantage but wasn’t substantial enough to overtake Quartararo. Much to its disappointment, however, the M1 developed a problem that caused the Yamaha rider to lose power on lap 14. This was enough for Miller to overtake the helpless Quartararo on lap 16, followed by Bagnaia for P2 two laps later.
(LR) On the podium: Franco Morbidelli, Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia
Quartararo dropped the contract as more and more riders took advantage of his drop in performance and he ended up in 13th place, far from the expected target for the factory Yamaha rider. Meanwhile, Miller was well on his way to claiming his first win in ages. He saw some pressure from team-mate Bagnaia, but Miller responded on the final lap with a gap of 1.912 seconds over the checkered flag.
After relegating to P3 at the start of the race, Morbidelli could do little to improve his position and finished last on the podium. Meanwhile, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami moved up to fourth before defending champion Suzuki Joan Mir finished fifth after starting from tenth on the grid. Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was satisfied with sixth place, but not before he showed potential for a podium early on.
Maverick Vinales drove the second Yamaha P7 factory ahead of Johann Zarco von Pramac. Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro made significant strides to take P9 and P10 respectively, ahead of KTM’s Miguel Oliveira to take P11. Wildcard participant Stefan Bradl took 12th place ahead of Quartararo, while Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona from Tech3 KTM took the last points.
Finalists included Luca Marini from Avintia, Valentino Rossi from Petronas SRT Yamaha, Tito Rabat from Pramac, Lorenzo Salvadori from Aprilia and Alex Rins from Suzuki who managed to finish the race after an early fall. KTM’s Brad Binder suffered two falls and was one of three DNFs in the race, which included Avintia’s rookie riders Enea Bastianini and LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez.
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With the results of the Spanish GP, the MotoGP drivers’ standings have changed somewhat. Francesco Bagnaia now leads the table, two points ahead of Fabio Quartararo. Vinales is in third place, 16 points ahead of his teammate.
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