Quartararo Wins The Catalunya GP, Espargaro Fails On The Podium Due To A Blunder
Starting from P3, Fabio Quartararo immediately stepped on the gas to steal the leader of the race from the start, realizing the character of the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit which is notoriously difficult to overtaking. There was drama at the first corner of the opening lap when Takaaki Nakagami lost front grip and fell before the LCR Honda rider's head hit the Ducati rear tire Francesco Bagnaia. Then, Nakagami's bike slid into Alex Rins' Suzuki, sending all three riders to the gravel on the opening lap and failing to finish the race.
Not even ten rounds, the Gresini Racing team duo Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio also fell. Bastianini, who has raced three times this season, felt the need to be consistent after failing to finish twice, but found his third DNF in Catalunya.
Halfway through the race, Quartararo was not caught and kept his distance to 3.5 seconds ahead of pole sitter Aleix Espargaro of the Aprilia team, and Jorge Martin of the Pramac Ducati team who stuck tight behind. Espargaro lost his place after being overtaken by Martin, but with four laps to go, the Aprilia rider found a gap at corner one to climb back into P2, overshadowing Martin and teammate Johann Zarco in the race for the podium in Spain.
Espargaro previously said speed alone was not enough in Catalunya because tire management was also very important at the Spanish Circuit to attack in the last five laps. He proved his strategy worked, but made a fatal mistake after celebrating a P2 finish too early with one lap remaining.
Feeling that he had finished P2 and was running his bike on the track, Espargaro, who was wearing a special livery helmet for his daughter, realized his blunder and re-started his bike but could only finish P5. He regretted his mistake on the track.
Bak got a windfall, Martin and Zarco completed the podium in second and third place. While Joan Mir finished P4 for Suzuki. "I felt good from the start, I wanted to be first at the first corner, in the end I managed to have this crazy race," said Quartararo, who finished 6.473 seconds ahead of Martin, as reported by the official MotoGP website. .
Luca Marini played P6 for team VR46 ahead of Maverick Vinales from team Aprilia. KTM duo Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira occupy P8 and P9 and Alex Marquez completes the top ten for the LCR Honda team.
With the result of the ninth race series on the calendar, Quartararo has a total of 147 points, increasing his distance from Espargaro who is 22 points adrift in second place. Bastianini stays in third place with 94 points, while Zarco moves up to fourth (91 points), shifting Bagnaia to fifth place (81 points). The MotoGP series will continue to the Sachsenring Circuit for the German Grand Prix, two weeks away.
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