KTM struggled in the early races of 2021, but a chassis update and a new fuel supplier brought the Austrian brand back to front-runner status in the last two Grand Prix – Oliveira clinched his first win as a works team KTM rider.
Jack Miller used the power of Ducati to get the holeshot off the line in front of KTM’s Oliveira and Quartararo on the Yamaha.
Behind them world champion Joan Mir had worked his way up from 10th to fourth place on the Suzuki, while Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro, both of whom had soft rear tires, were in action early on.
Miller made a mistake on the right at Turn 4, leaving Oliveira in the lead, while Quartararo dropped to fifth behind Mir and Aprilias Espargaro when he failed to lunge against Miller at Turn 7.
Quartararo was also demoted by Zarco on the run at turn 1 on lap three, but carved under him again at turn 5.
Oliveira extended his lead over Miller to almost a second on lap five, with the Australian falling behind both Mir and Quartararo one tour later.
Quartararo passed Mir on lap seven with a brilliant scythe inside Turn 3, although this allowed Oliveira to extend his lead to 1.2 seconds.
However, Quartararo steadily cleared this gap in the next laps and finally found a way to the KTM rider in turn 5 of the 12th tour.
Prior to the race, Quartararo was expected to be able to take over the field if he could take the lead, but Oliveira made sure the Yamaha rider couldn’t develop his rhythm by taking him two laps later at Turn 1 overtaken.
Falls by Aleix Espargaro in lap 11 and Marquez in lap 8 thinned the leading group a bit, with the top duo Oliveira and Quartararo building a gap of a little more than a second on the group behind on lap 18.
I could not keep up with the pace of the top 2 and fell behind Zarco and Miller two tours earlier, with an onrushing Vinales approaching the Suzuki driver late.
When the pace slowed and the leaders were confronted with tire wear, the gap between Oliveira and Quartararo and Zarco and Miller behind them shrank to less than a second four times before the end.
Oliveira’s constant pace on the hard front and rear tires allowed the KTM rider to open a gap of over eight tenths on Quartararo by the end of lap 21 – who appeared to be struggling with his middle front as Zarco settled in.
Zarco retreated on the main straight ahead of Quartararo and grabbed second place, with the Frenchman running away after a moment of braking in Turn 1.
Oddly enough, Quartararo’s leather had cracked and he lost his chest armor in the final stages – although he continued to fight Miller for third place.
At the front, Oliveira came under enormous pressure on Zarco’s last lap, the gap between the two was less than four tenths after the first two sectors.
But Oliveira made no mistake in the second half of the round to keep Zarco at bay for 0.175 seconds to secure his first win in 2021.
Quartararo’s off-track foray into Turn 1 on lap 22 earned him a three-second time penalty, which meant he dropped to fourth place, despite taking the checkered flag ahead of Miller in third.
I completed the top 5 ahead of Vinales, while Franceco Bagnaia on his factory Ducati took a distant seventh place ahead of Brad Binder’s sister KTM, Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli and Avintia rookie Enea Bastianini.
Alex Marquez finished 11th on the LCR Honda, with Luca Marini (Avintia), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), Pramacs Jorge Martin – who had to start last after a crash in the screening lap – and Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori completed the points.
Only 15 riders saw the checkered flag, Tech 3’s Iker Lecuona crashed late from ninth place, followed by Valentino Rossi (SRT), Danilo Petrucci (Tech 3) and Pol Espargaro on the Honda and Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro on the sidelines.
Quartararo’s dramas have resulted in Zarco reducing his lead in the championship to 17, with Oliveira coming a little closer in seventh place, 64 points behind.