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The Ducati man took glory at Misano for the second race in succession as he held off Fabio Quartararo, with Avintia’s Enea Bastianini coming home in third to clinch his maiden MotoGP podium.
MotoGP returned to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for round 14 of the 2021 Championship as Quartararo continued his charge to win his first title in the category.
The Misano World Circuit is a riders’ favourite with its challenging and twisty nature, as well as the exhilarating turns 11 and 12, two of the fastest corners on the circuit.
Starting Grid
For the second race in succession, Bagnaia lined up on pole position ahead of his Factory Ducati teammate Jack Miller and Quartararo in third.
Jorge Martin followed in fourth with the Spaniard’s Pramac Ducati teammate, Johann Zarco, alongside him in fifth and Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro in sixth.
Row three was a Spanish lockout as Marc Marquez lined up in seventh ahead of Aleix Espargaro in eighth and Suzuki’s Alex Rins in ninth.
Maverick Vinales started 10th, Joan Mir in 11th, Enea Bastianini in 12th, Takaaki Nakagami in 13th, Michele Pirro in 14th, Luca Marini in 15th, Franco Morbidelli in 16th, Brad Binder in 17th, Stefan Bradl in 18th, Alex Marquez in 19th, Iker Lecuona in 20th and Miguel Oliveira in 21st.
On the final row of the grid, it was an all Italian affair as Danilo Petrucci started 22nd ahead of Valentino Rossi and his new SRT Yamaha teammate for the remainder of the campaign, Andrea Dovizioso.
As It Happened
Bagnaia got a lightning start and led into turn one ahead of Miller and Quartararo. Meanwhile, Martin and Marc Marquez battled through the first sector, a battle that the latter came out on top of as the former dropped down to sixth behind Pol Espargaro.
Martin made a late move into turn eight, forcing Pol Espargaro to sit up, which allowed Aleix Espargaro to slot himself into sixth.
At the end of lap one, it was Bagnaia who led ahead of Miller and Quartararo in third, with Marc Marquez, Martin, Pol Espargaro and Aleix Espargaro piling pressure onto one another in the battle for the podium.
It was another late move from Martin, this time on Quartararo into turn one on lap two. However, he ran deep and conceded the position. The duo battled hard throughout lap two, and at turn four on lap three, Quartararo dived down the inside of the Spaniard and back into third place.
Quartararo couldn’t keep up with Martin down the back straight, and the Spaniard got back into third momentarily before the Championship leader got back past at turn 10.
Martin tried so hard to stay within touching distance of Quartararo’s rear tyre and eventually pushed too hard as he fell down the order and retired six laps later.
On lap eight, second-placed Miller ran wide at turn 13 which allowed Quartararo to close the gap even more.
Six laps later, the Frenchman caught Miller and after setting himself up at turn five, he promoted himself into second at turn six with a neat move up the inside.
Meanwhile, Bastianini, who started the race from 12th on the grid, found himself within reach of the podium places as Miller continued to fall with tyre problems. After a great exit out of turn 10, the Italian was able to get the run on third-place man through the fast turns 11 and 12 before making the move stick up the inside at turn 13.
Into the closing stages of the race, Quartararo was taking multi-tenth chunks out of Bagnaia’s lead as the Frenchman closed in on his championship rival.
With just two laps to go, Quartararo was all over the rear tyre of the leading Ducati man, but surprisingly, Bagnaia found a second wind in his tyres and was able to keep his championship rival at bay for the final laps to win his second race in succession.
Quartararo finished second, four-tenths behind the winning Italian, with Bastianini completing the rostrum as he came across the line in third.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Marc Marquez, who pipped Miller to fourth, Mir, who dropped to sixth after a track limits infringement at turn 15 on the final lap, Pol Espargaro, Aleix Espargaro, Binder and Nakagami.
In the Championship, Bagnaia has taken another five points out of Quartararo’s lead, however, the gap still stands at 48 points. Another poor result for Zarco, who finished 12th, sees him fall to within reach of Miller who is just one point behind the Frenchman.
What’s Next?
MotoGP takes a two-week break before touching down in the USA as the Circuit of the Americas plays host to round 15 of the 2021 season. Quartararo will hope to put one hand on his maiden MotoGP crown with only a handful of rounds remaining.
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