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More from a press release from Dorna:
Quartararo wins emotionally at Mugello and extends his lead
KTM and Suzuki complete the podium after a close race to finish in the top 5 on a difficult day in Italy
MotoGP race winner Fabio Quartararo (center), runner-up Miguel Oliveira (left) and third-placed Joan Mir (right) on the podium with a Swiss flag in honor of the fallen Moto3 racing driver Jason Dupasquier. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Sunday May 30th 2021
Fabio Quartararo of Monster Energy Yamaha’s MotoGP clinched an overwhelming and emotional victory at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley and extended his lead to 24 points. A minute’s silence was observed in memory of Moto3 ™ rider Jason Dupasquier and Quartararo dedicated his victory to the Swiss rider.
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and reigning World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the Mugello podium when Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) retired on lap 2.
Quartararo’s new front start device worked well as the polesitter managed to keep Bagnaia in check all the way to the braking zone when the Italian dived inside to lead. Pecco then went ahead as the riders settled into the race, but the Ducati rider pocketed the front on lap 2 at Turn 9. Quartararo was given the lead, but as compatriot Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) he could not escape quickly) dueled with the Yamaha.
Eventually Quartararo broke the slipstream on lap 5 after making good progress on the twisty part of the track, and from there the Yamaha was able to pull away from Zarco in second place. Quartararo’s lead was 2.7 seconds on lap 11, and on lap 1:47 the Yamaha rider was in a league of his own at Mugello, taking a third win of the season in 2.5 seconds.
After fighting Quartararo in the first few rounds, Zarco had to focus on leaving Oliveira behind. The two Team Suzuki Ecstar riders – Mir and Alex Rins – struggled to stick passes on Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team). Ducati power enabled the Australian to overtake Mir and Rins on the straight. Eventually the Suzukis came through and both entered the podium battle.
With eight laps left, Oliveira passed Zarco for the first time at Turn 11 and took second place. Exactly the same maneuver was carried out by Mir one lap later when the reigning world champion picked up P3, and he kept Zarco in check decisively at Turn 1. Rins then fell with six laps to go when Zarco was mixed back to P5 with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Miller and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) are close behind.
With five minutes to go, Rins crashed from fourth place in the last corner, a fourth DNF in a row for the Spaniard. Oliveira was able to only fend off Mir, even though it was tight and the course limits came into play at the beginning – but both had exceeded them a little. Zarco missed just under a second in fourth place, although he moved up to second in the overall standings, 24 points behind Quartararo.
Binder gave KTM a double top 5 at the Italian GP and got his same best end of the season, although he had never competed in the premier class at Mugello before, and Miller comes home in P6. Aleix Espargaro impressed again with a P7. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took the checkered flag at P8 after his difficult qualifying in P13. 2019 Mugello winner Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) was ninth and finished with his second top 10 in a row. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) completed the top 10 on home soil.
Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing), Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), Michele Pirro (Pramac Racing), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) were the last points.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) crashed unhurt at Turn 3 on lap 2, but forced Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) into the gravel and the Italian returned to the order. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) also fell out of the race late at Turn 13. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) crashed en route to the starting grid after hitting the back of Zarco’s motorcycle.
The riders put the Swiss flag on the podium in memory of Dupasquier when MotoGP ™ offered our deep condolences to everyone he left behind.
The MotoGP ™ will be back on track next weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.