May 2021

Factory yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo won the Italian MotoGP race making it his third MotoGP win of 2021 at Mugello as title rival Francesco Bagnaia crashed out early on. Quartararo utilised the new front start device fitted to his M1 for this weekend to limit the damage to the rapid-starting Ducati’s from pole as he slotted in to second behind Bagnaia entering Turn 1, though the factory Yamaha man was soon sniffing for a way through back into the leadership. Bagnaia made the Frenchman’s job all the more easy though as he lost the front of his Desmosedici after glancing the kerb on entry to the fast left-hander of Turn 9 on the opening tour, the home hero forced to retire in the gravel. Quartararo therefore was left to fend of Johann Zarco in the opening laps, the Pramac racer blasting past the M1 along Mugello’s 1.1 kilometre front stretch on the run to Turn 1, though the Yamaha was visibly quicker throughout the rest of the circuit. Quartararo eventually managed to pass Zarco early enough in the lap to craft enough of an advantage to maintain the lead by the end of the straight at around a quarters distance, allowing him to escape off into the distance across the rest of the encounter while his peers scrapped for the runners-up spot behind. The battle for the remaining rostrum positions allowed Quartararo to manage his lead and tyres out front, meaning he ultimately took the chequered flag 2.5 seconds clear of an impressive Miguel Oliviera. The KTM pilot made a good start to move into third following Bagnaia’s early exit, the two-time premier class victor stalking Zarco throughout the bulk of the race before finally making the move for second with around a third of the race remaining as the Suzuki pair of Joan Mir and Alex Rins closed in. Now struggling for overall grip Zarco was soon relegated to fourth by a charging Mir who then looked to grab second from the KTM. Mir managed to put pressure on Oliveira in the closing laps but wasn’t quite able to make the difference and thus took the chequered flag just half-a-second later in third, Oliveira taking KTM’s first rostrum result of the year. This would later become third for Oliveira though after it was deemed he had exceeded track limits while defending against Mir, allowing the GSX-RR man into second ahead of the RC16, though their positions were swapped once again as it was found Mir had also touched the same green tarmac. Zarco held on to take fourth ahead of Brad Binder, the South African completing a strong day for KTM with both factory RC16’s in the top five. Miller ended up sixth as he fended off the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro in the closing tours, while Maverick Vinales could only reach eighth after starting 13th. Danilo Petrucci brought his Tech 3 KTM home in ninth in a race hit by attrition, while Valentino Rossi completed the top ten as he recovered several spots late on-the Petronas SRT man’s best result so far this year. Pol Espargaro ended a tough day for Honda in 12th with Alex Marquez 14th on his LCR-run RC213-V as their respective team-mates ended their races in the gravel. Marc Marquez came of second best in an ill-advised move against Binder at Turn 3 on the opening lap, the Spaniard clattering into the side of the KTM and going down into the gravel-inadvertently causing Franco Morbidelli to have to transit the gravel in avoidance, the Italian eventually finishing a lowly 16th. Takaaki Nakagami meanwhile was running solidly in eighth and catching the riders ahead before losing the front of his machine through the fast Turn 13/14 chicane towards the end of the lap, ending his race as a consequence. Rins meanwhile suffered his fourth crash in as many races while chasing team-mate Mir for third late on, the three-time MotoGP race winner sliding out at Turn 20 with just six laps to go. Quartararo’s success sees him now open up a 26 point lead in the riders standings ahead of Bagnaia and Zarco who are level in second and third overall heading to Barcelona for the Catalan GP in seven days time. ITALIAN MOTOGP, MUGELLO – RACE RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF 1 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 41m 16.344s 2 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +2.592s 3 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +3.000s 4 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +3.535s 5 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +4.903s 6 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +6.233s 7 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +8.030s 8 Maveric Vinales SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +17.239s 9 Danillo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +23.296s 10 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +25.146s 11 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +25.152s 12 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +26.059s 13 Michele Pirro ITA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +26.182s 14 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +29.400s 15 Lorenzo Salvadori ITA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* +32.378s 16 Franco Morbidelli ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +37.906s 17 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +50.306s   Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) DNF   Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) DNF   Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) DNF   Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) DNF   Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* DNF

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi is moving closer to announcing that 2021 will be his final year racing in the series. A disappointing start to the year as a Petronas Yamaha satellite rider has started to tip the balance towards the 42-year-old calling it quits after 25 years of grand prix racing. Rossi has been adamant for many years that retirement would only happen when he started to lose his love for the sport, but it’s believed by sources close to the Italian that the bad start to 2021 has taken a toll. Five races into the season, Rossi’s best result of the year was an 11th-placed finish last time out in Le Mans. Taking only nine points this year and sitting 20th in the championship, he will go into tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, a track where he once dominated, with an incredible 14-race drought of top-10 finishes. And that drought may be a long shot to end here given he will start the race in 19th place. Rossi has insisted for some time that the crunch time for making his decision will be MotoGP’s scheduled summer break in July – something he reiterated ahead of this weekend’s race. “Now we have a very important period of the championship, with four races in five weeks at very important race tracks like Mugello, Barcelona and Assen,” he said. “After this we will have one month to stop, and for sure in this period everyone will start to think about 2022.” “In this moment I will start to make my decision, but it’s not only my decision because I need to speak with the Petronas team and with Yamaha to understand what their plans are for next year,” he continued, perhaps hinting at rumoured performance clauses in his contract that could see the decision taken out of his hands. Rossi also nixed rumours that the absence of fans during most of the 2021 season will affect his decision whether to make it his last year or not, instead remaining adamant that as always his on-track performance will be the deciding factor. “It’s not a reason to continue,” he explained when asked about empty grandstands at his home race. “Mugello is special with the fans around, but if I want to see the fans around next year I can come to watch the race. It’s difficult to continue just for that.”

Swiss Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier has died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident during qualifying on Saturday, MotoGP has announced. The 19-year-old was hit by another bike after falling from his own and slid down the track at Mugello in Italy. MotoGP said on its official website: “Following a serious incident in the Moto3 qualifying two session at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley, it is with great sadness that we report the passing of Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier. “Dupasquier was involved in a multi-rider incident between turns nine and 10, with the session red flagged thereafter. FIM Medical Intervention Vehicles arrived at the site immediately and the Swiss rider was attended to on track before being transferred by medical helicopter, in a stable state, to Careggi Hospital in Florence. “Despite the best efforts of circuit medical staff and all those subsequently attending to the Swiss rider, the hospital has announced that Dupasquier has sadly succumbed to his injuries.” It was reported Dupasquier was being treated by medics on the circuit for over half an hour after the incident before being flown to hospital. His team, Prustel GP, announced they would not be taking part in Sunday’s race. Dupasquier was in his second season in MtoGP’s lightweight class and was in the the top 10 in the overall standings heading into the weekend.

Fabio Quartararo flew to a fourth MotoGP pole of 2021 with a blistering lap record in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello ahead of title rival Francesco Bagnaia. The Frenchman elected to head out on track focussing only on his own lap and not searching for a tow down the long Mugello front straight, a strategy that worked well in the early stages of Q2 as he posted a 1:45.481s to complete the opening runs quickest ahead of a surprise Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia. Quartararo elected to follow the same pattern as he headed out for his final run, finding a nice section of empty Italian tarmac with which to strive for his fourth successive premier class pole position of the term. The series leader lit up the time screens on his penultimate lap as he shattered the Mugello lap record-a 1:45.456s set by Bagnaia in FP3 on Saturday morning-with a 1:45.187s effort leaving him nearly half-a-second clear of anyone else at that juncture. His biggest threat looked to be from the Ducati armada, Bagnaia stringing together a strong final gambit though eventually taking the chequered flag second quickest, 0.230s down on Quartararo’s benchmark. Johann Zarco fired in a late improvement to complete the front row for Pramac, the two-time Moto2 world champion denying Aleix and Aprilia a dream front row start for its new RS-GP, the Spaniard at least still achieving his best qualifying result with the Italian marque of fourth despite having had to contest Q1. Espargaro impressively managed to escape the clutches of the opening qualifying session despite not utilising a slipstream, his best effort enough to hang on behind Marc Marquez after Maverick Vinales ran wide on his best lap. Marquez stuck to the rear of Vinales like glue as he used the tow from the back of the Yamaha to post his session leading 1:45.924s, the latter visibly frustrated as he tried in vain to shake off the Honda. Despite his problems Vinales looked good to still lead the session with a final last gasp tour as Marquez returned to the pits, though his hopes were dashed after he ran on at the final bend-gifting Aleix the final automatic Q2 spot and leaving him a lowly 13th. Jack Miller meanwhile will start sixth for the Italian GP on the second factory Ducati ahead of KTM duo Brad Binder and Miguel Oliviera, the pair enjoying the new chassis the Austrian manufacturer brought to Mugello for this weekend. Alex Rins ended up as the quickest Suzuki in eighth ahead of team-mate Joan Mir, while Franco Morbidelli completed the top ten on his year-old Petronas SRT Yamaha. Marc and Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro completed the 12-strong field in the pole shootout. Takaaki Nakagami missed out on a Q2 berth despite looking strong throughout the event so far, the LCR man having to settle for 15th on the grid after failing to put together a strong final tour in Q1 just behind fastest rookie Enea Bastianini. Pramac replacement rider Michele Pirro ended up 16th, while Valentino Rossi’s continual struggles failed to subside as he could only capture the 19th best starting slot on the grid at the first of his two home races of the year. # Rider Bike Time Gap 1  Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1’45.187   2  Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1’45.417 0.230 3  Johann Zarcoa Ducati 1’45.432 0.245 4  Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1’45.538 0.351 5  Jack Miller Ducati 1’45.598 0.411 6  Brad Binder KTM 1’45.743 0.556 7  Miguel Oliveira KTM 1’45.745 0.558 8  Alex Rins Suzuki 1’45.996 0.809 9  Joan Mir Suzuki 1’46.076 0.889 10  Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1’46.084 0.897 11  Marc Marquez Honda 1’46.125 0.938 12  Pol Espargaro Honda 1’46.393 1.206 13  Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1’46.045 0.858 14  Enea Bastianini Ducati 1’46.129 0.942 15  Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1’46.195 1.008 16  Michele Pirro Ducati 1’46.302 1.115 17  Luca Marini Ducati 1’46.481 1.294 18  Danilo Petrucci KTM 1’46.548 1.361 19  Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’46.770 1.583 20  Iker Lecuona KTM 1’47.084 1.897 21  Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1’47.146 1.959 22  Alex Marquez Honda 1’47.216 2.029

Honda MotoGP rider Marc Marquez says he apologised to rival Maverick Vinales for his “not completely fair” tactic during the first segment of Mugello qualifying. Marquez stuck to the back of Vinales for most of Q1, specifically waiting for the Yamaha rider to come out onto the track on his second run and even following him into the pits when Vinales ducked back into the pitlane to shake off his pursuers. In the end, this allowed Marquez to set his fastest lap behind Vinales and go a tenth quicker than the Yamaha man. Though Vinales then had another attempt to get through to Q2, he came up short and was eliminated, while Marquez topped the opening session. Yamaha’s MotoGP team manager Massimo Meregalli took issue with Marquez’s strategy in the immediate aftermath of the session, telling MotoGP.com that it was “not fair” and potentially warranted sanction. But Vinales himself – though clearly irked when on the bike – expressed no such sentiment publicly in the aftermath, and Marquez said that he already discussed the situation with the Yamaha man. “I met Maverick before entering the press conference, where all the TV [crews] are,” Marquez said. “And yeah, first of all, I apologised, because I know that it’s not completely fair. “And what I said is ‘you have the reason to be angry’. But, in another hand, you know, today in the morning I felt not so bad, in the afternoon I felt really really bad, the physical condition, and then I stopped in FP4 before the finish, I said to the team ‘I don’t feel the bike, I don’t feel anything, we just need to follow somebody’. “I checked the list, the fastest guy was Vinales there and we chose him because he was the fastest guy – if it was another one, we would choose another one. And yeah, just I followed him, was the tactic because was the only way to improve.” Marquez, who went on to qualify 11th to Vinales’ 13th, is continuing his recovery from the injury that wrecked his 2020, and faces potentially the sternest test of his comeback yet at the demanding Mugello circuit. Though his right arm is healing well, he has been struggling from a lack of strength in his right shoulder and has been unable to recapture the kind of form he showed in the wet conditions at Le Mans two weekends ago. Marquez’s Q1 approach drew mixed reactions from the paddock, though Vinales himself wouldn’t be drawn on it, saying he was “not disturbed” when having Marquez behind him. “I don’t have any comment on it. We weren’t fast enough, that’s all,” he said. “After FP1 I never had that feeling again, so there is no excuse. We were slow and that’s it. “If the team say something, that’s the team, but I just say nothing and keep concentrating on riding. We didn’t get past Q2 because we weren’t fast enough and it’s like this.” Rookie Luca Marini suggested that Marquez did this specifically to “disturb” Vinales as he would’ve been quick enough to make Q2 anyway, but this claim came before Marquez’s explanation – and Marini in any case didn’t feel it was something that really could be policed. “It’s a funny situation from the outside, but when you are the one being followed by someone it’s not really really nice,” said reigning champion Joan Mir, who had his frustration with Marquez trying to grab a tow earlier this year. “And I feel it. “And what I saw from the outside is that Marc loves to play, and Maverick hates to play. So, this is what I saw. In this situation, you cannot do anything but your work.” Vinales’ team-mate Fabio Quartararo described the situation as “borderline” because Marquez actively followed Vinales into the pitlane, but said he “didn’t want to judge anyone”. Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco described it as “the dark side of our sport”, but his other words made it clear he had no intention to condemn Marquez’s actions, hinting that the result justified the action. “Marc was strong also like this,” Zarco then said, pointing to when Marquez was at full fitness. “When he was the one we wanted to catch, sometimes he went out of the box, jumped on the bike, everyone went, and then he went back into the box. And then he did the lap alone.” Marquez himself also made reference to riders following him when he was in his pre-injury form. “I would like to be in another level, another position, to push in front and the others follow me, like many times in the past, but I’m not like this,” he said. “I know, because I had that feeling in the past, and I know how Maverick can feel, and for that reason I apologised. “But in the end it’s inside the rules. In the limit but inside the rules. And yeah, what I did is try to find the situation, try to find the perfect situation to do my 100 percent and take the best result possible.”

Francesco Bagnaia broke the lap record at Ducati’s home circuit to compete a frantic end to FP3 ahead of qualifying for the Italian MotoGP Grand Prix at Mugello. Fastest on Friday, Francesco Bagnaia continued his pace into FP3 to top the session with a new record aboard the Ducati at their home track in the Italian MotoGP FP3 session. The Italian sits just one point behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo and is well placed to eye up his first win in the class after heading straight to Q2 thanks to his new record lap of 1m 45.456s, beating Marc Marquez’s old Mugello standard, set in 2019. Quartararo was a constant at the top of the timesheets, with only his title rivals record pace able to displacing him, the Monster Yamaha rider a solid second, just 0.157s slower. Winner of the last two rounds, Jack Miller, was down in thirteenth until the introduction of a soft front and rear tyre. The Australian immediately moved into the top ten, finishing fourth while sat in the pits, confident enough to sit out the last few laps of manic track action. Johann Zarco used his final run to push his way up to fifth for Pramac Racing, having been stuck outside the top ten ias the chequered flag waved. Suzuki are again on the new electronics package, seeing improved cornering at Mugello. Alex Rins was the best of thier riders in sixth with reigning champion also making Q2 automatically in eighth. Pol Espargaro was the best of the factory Honda riders, holding on in the faster, cooler conditions to ninth. Franco Morbidelli, underpowered in comparision to Binder’s new record speed on the 2019 Yamaha machinery, used every bit of his skill and track knowledge to hold on to a top ten slot and escape having to go through Q1. Vinales was not as lucky – a late crash at turn 12, Ducati Corner, from his Monster Energy Yamaha saw him unable to reply as the final flurry of fast laps came in, pushing him down to eleventh. The Spaniard was not the only big name to miss out on heading straight to the second qualifying session. Marc Marquez continued to fight the uncomfortable feeling in his shoulder, having played down his chances of success in Italy, he continued to struggle with cornering and improved on his final lap, tucked in incredibly closely behind Bagnaia he moved up from 19th but only to 12th. Aleix Espargaro, who had arm pump surgery between rounds, had his arm drained following pain on Friday, still affected he could only manage a time good enough for 13th in an incredibly tight session, but remained the top Aprillia rider. Luca Marini was top rookie in FP3 in 16th for Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati. Valentino Rossi chose this session for his Mugello helmet reveal, the cow emblazoned helmet added a touch of fun to another tough session for the Mugello fan favourite. After spending most of the session in last Rossi improved to 18th as the clock hit zero, and although his performance feels miles away from his series of Mugello victories, the Italian was less than a second off Bagnaia’s new record lap.