Jack Miller took his first MotoGP win since Assen in 2016 in a dramatic fashion after Fabio Quartararo had a mid-race problem that caused him to lose a sure third win in 2021.
Miller started the race from third on the grid and was able to take full advantage of Ducati’s front and rear starters as he led into the first corner.
The strategy of getting ahead of the Yamahas and keeping them in check for as long as possible seemed like a good start as Francesco Bagnaia was also third ahead of Qaurtararo.
However, the then championship leader soon showed the pace everyone feared by overtaking Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli and Miller on turn 13 – Jorge Lorenzo corner on consecutive laps.
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Quartararo accelerated the pace immediately after taking the lead and drove a new best race lap of 1: 37.770s to the breakaway.
But what looked like a sure third win of the year for the 21-year-old soon fizzled out in a bizarre way, as the Yamaha rider apparently had no obvious problems with the motorcycle and got into Miller’s grip.
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Quartararo looked a little uncomfortable on the cool down lap – (potential physical issue), and with eight laps left, Miller made the winning move on Turn 1.
This resulted in a number of moves and a subsequent drop in the order for Quartararo as Bagnaia and Morbidelli passed in a few turns on lap 17.
Quartararo then slid all the way down and eventually finished 13th, but with Bagnaia taking second place, it means the Italian is two points ahead of the new championship.
Morbidelli finished third for Petronas Yamaha, the Italian rider’s first podium of the season, while Takaaki Nakagami took the best fourth place of the season.
Engaged in a fight with Aleix Espargaro and Joan Mir for most of the race, Nakagami was able to pass Espargaro and Quartararo in quick succession, helping him fend off Joan Mir in fifth.
Espargaro finished in sixth place after getting off to a brilliant start from eight to five. The Aprilia driver was even fourth at the beginning, but could not hold a podium challenge.
Maverick Vinales and Johann Zarco finished seventh and eighth and had a good fight throughout the race. The pair swapped positions several times, but Vinales was able to pull out a small gap towards the end.
The top ten were rounded off by the Repsol Hondas of Marc Marquez in ninth place and Pol Espargaro in tenth place.
It was another impressive performance from both of them in the race, but especially from Marquez, who started out only in 16th place before making his way through the field.
Just like in the morning warm-up, there were a lot of falls – this time in the hotter conditions. Alex Marquez was the first to fall on the first lap, while Brad Binder fell twice.
Alex Rins and Enea Bastianini also fell, with Rins being the only one able to get back up and carry on – they turned 20.