Francesco Bagnaia

Bagnaia wins crash filled Algarve GP ahead of Mir and Miller(full results)

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Francesco Bagnaia has soared to a third MotoGP win in five races after dominating the Algarve Grand Prix at Portimao. Starting from pole position following a record lap time, the factory Ducati rider was imperious in running away with victory at Portimao. The race was called early, on the penultimate lap, following a collision between Iker Lecuona and Miguel Oliveira. With the results backdated to the end of Lap 23, the final margin to second-placed finisher Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) ended up at 2.478s. Off the start, it was Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) who got the best getaway to lead the field into Turn 1. Bagnaia wasted no time in regaining the lead though, getting the upper hand with a stronger exit out of the first corner, and later that same lap Mir would pass Miller too. Bagnaia and Mir quickly set about dropping Miller, who fell back into the clutches of a tight battle back behind initially led by Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing). By Lap 4, the Australian’s threat from behind was now Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol), the Spaniard having started well from his career-best grid slot of eighth. While Bagnaia upped the ante to widen his buffer over Mir to eight tenths by Lap 7 and towards 1.5s at the midway point of the race, Miller continued to fall back and was passed for third by Marquez at the start of Lap 12. Unlike the medium-shod Miller, Marquez was making his hard rear tyre work a treat. By the end of Lap 15 of 25, the order ran: Bagnaia, Mir, Marquez, Miller, Martin, Johann Zarco and champion-elect Fabio Quartararo. Starting seventh, the Monster Energy Yamaha star was sluggish off the line and struggled to find a way past the Ducatis ahead – Zarco sneaking through after Quartararo ran wide at Turn 13. The biggest improver in the opening segment was home hero Oliveira, who gained seven spots to 10th within two laps. By contrast, Maverick Viñales plummeted to last immediately – and things would get worse for Aprilia Racing Team Gresini when Aleix Espargaro crashed out on Lap 8 at Turn 1. That completed a shocking day for the older Espargaro brother, who had also crashed in Sunday warm-up. He was the second to trigger yellow flags, Danilo Petrucci (Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing) making it only to the fourth corner of the opening lap. Miller, searching for his first podium since the Catalan Grand Prix five months ago, briefly snuck back into third with a block pass at the start of Lap 19, only for Marquez to execute a criss-cross. Two laps later, Miller would make it stick after a Marquez error opened the door. A little further back, the same lap would bring Quartararo unstuck at Turn 5, a crash representing his first non-finish of 2021. Quartararo had held sixth at the time, Martin having lost positions to both Zarco and #20 moments earlier. He’d be joined in the non-finisher category by Lecuona and Oliveira, an incident which brought about the race-ending red flag. Lecuona lost his #27 on entry to Turn 13, wiping out his fellow KTM competitor. After initial concern, both riders were seen to be conscious, Lecuona appearing to apologise. The early stoppage did, however, cost Marquez any chance of launching a last-gasp assault on Miller, leaving him to settle for fourth. With the results, Bagnaia and Mir sealed second and third, respectively, in the riders’ championship. Ducati also sealed the 2021 constructors’ title. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – RACE RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF 1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 38m 17.72s 2 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +2.478s 3 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +6.402s 4 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +6.453s 5 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +7.882s 6 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +9.573s 7 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +10.144s 8 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +10.742s 9 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +13.840s 10 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +14.487s 11 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +20.912s 12 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +22.450s 13 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +22.752s 14 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +26.207s 15 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) +26.284s 16 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +26.828s 17 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +27.863s   Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) DNF   Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) DNF   Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) DNF   Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF   Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) DNF

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Algarve MotoGP: Bagnaia takes pole, Quartararo will start from seventh

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia scored a remarkable fifth consecutive pole in MotoGP at Portimao, while champion Fabio Quartararo – who had managed the same feat earlier this season – was only seventh. Quartararo and Bagnaia had run the show through practice, but it was Jack Miller who uncorked a Portimao record lap early on in the pole shoot-out instead, with neither of the two favourites even in the top three at the halfway mark of the session. Yet Bagnaia jumped narrowly ahead of team-mate Miller with his very first attempt on his second run, and found another tenth of a second with a follow-up effort moments before the chequered flag. Miller improved too, but only by seven thousandths, leaving him to prop up a Ducati 1-2 that would have been a 1-2-3-4 if not for the efforts of Suzuki rider Joan Mir. Mir beat the closely-matched Pramac Ducati duo of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco to record his best-ever MotoGP qualifying, although he was seen angrily giving a piece of his mind to Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) – who had passed him into Turn 1 on their last laps – after the chequered flag. Despite being world champion in 2020, Mir had never previously qualified above fourth in MotoGP – though he was elevated to third by a Zarco penalty at last year’s Styrian GP. Pol Espargaro was the lead Honda rider in sixth, a place that would’ve gone to Quartararo had he not had his fastest lap in the session deleted for a yellow flag infringement – the yellow flags having been caused by a Luca Marini Turn 14 crash. Quartararo only lost one place as a consequence, and will be joined by Marquez and team-mate Franco Morbidelli on the third row. Iker Lecuona, who was comfortably the fastest KTM of the quartet in Q1 and advanced to Q2 with Zarco, will lead row four, joined by Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Marini (VR46 Ducati). Avintia rider (and Marini’s semi-team-mate) Enea Bastianini briefly looked like joining his many Ducati peers in Q2, but was shuffled down to 13th by a late Q1 improvement from Zarco. Aleix Espargaro was a further tenth down in fourth in Q1, as the lead Aprilia rider (four places up on team-mate Maverick Vinales), while Danilo Petrucci was the closest KTM rider to his team-mate Lecuona in Q1, and will complete the fifth row. It was therefore a bruising session for KTM’s factory riders. Home hero Miguel Oliveira was just a couple of hundredths off Petrucci and 16th-placed Valentino Rossi, but was almost half a second down on Lecuona – at a track where Oliveira had won last year. It was worse still for team-mate Brad Binder, who will line up at the head of row seven and was nearly seven tenths off Lecuona, not helped by an early-Q1 crash at the sharp Turn 3. The only other rider to fall in Q1 was Takaaki Nakagami, with the Japanese LCR Honda rider’s late off at the hairpin-like Turn 5 consigning him to last place on the grid. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 1’38.725s 7/8 335k 2 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.104s 7/8 342k 3 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.168s 3/7 332k 4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.191s 7/8 342k 5 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.193s 6/8 342k 6 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.333s 6/7 341k 7 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.406s 7/7 331k 8 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.466s 6/7 338k 9 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.596s 3/7 329k 10 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +0.662s 7/8 333k 11 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.924s 3/7 332k 12 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.103s 5/6 331k   Qualifying 1:           13 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* 1’39.283s 7/8 338k 14 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1’39.389s 7/8 335k 15 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 1’39.595s 7/8 328k 16 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’39.604s 7/8 333k 17 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) 1’39.624s 3/8 330k 18 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1’39.738s 3/7 331k 19 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) 1’39.859s 6/7 336k 20 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1’39.907s 7/8 335k 21 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’39.918s 7/8 331k 22 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 1’40.009s 5/5 334k

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Bagnaia leads Quartararo with 0.001s in Algarve MotoGP FP3

Kevin Peterson06 mins

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia led MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo by just 0.001 seconds in an extremely tight Algarve Grand Prix FP3. Despite clear skies bathed in bright sunshine, conditions were cold for the third 45-minute session of the Algarve weekend. This meant lap time improvements on the combined order were few and far between for most of FP3. Suzuki’s Joan Mir was the first major improver on the combined order, the 2020 world champion moving up to third with a 1m39.586s – which also put him top of the individual FP3 timesheet. But this would be the most significant lap for some time, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami the only other rider able to improve into the top 10 with 25 minutes of the session gone. Despite the lack of combined order improvements, the field still went for fresh slicks in the closing stages for a final time attack to try and secure a direct place in Q2 for this afternoon’s qualifying. With seven minutes to go Quartararo finally bettered his Friday time with a 1m39.206s to slightly extend his advantage at the top of the combined timesheets. But it wouldn’t keep him top for long, as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia found 0.004s to edge ahead with a 1m39.202s moments later. A flurry of late lap times would shake up the top 10 order as the session wound down, but Bagnaia would remain fastest of all. However, Yamaha’s Quartararo found a 1m39.203s on his final lap to shadow Bagnaia by 0.001s – setting up a titanic battle for pole position later today. Mir completed the top three, missing top spot by just 0.025s on his Suzuki, with Ducati’s Jack Miller jumping up to fourth late on ahead of top Honda runner Alex Marquez on the LCR-run RC213V. Franco Morbidelli had a wild ride to sixth on the second of the factory Yamahas ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, while Pol Espargaro bagged a place in Q2 on the factory Honda ahead of Avintia rookie Luca Marini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Just 0.461s covered the top 10, with Nakagami denied a place in Q2 by 0.005s from Tech3’s Iker Lecuona, who was comfortably top KTM on a continuing difficult weekend for the Austrian brand. Home hero Miguel Oliveira – who said on Friday he’s “hit a wall” in terms of going faster – did manage to find nine tenths compared to his Friday best, but that was still only good enough for 15th and was still 0.859s off the pace. He’ll face Q1 later along with the likes of Petronas SRT duo Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, and both Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FREE PRACTICE (3) RESULTS POS   RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 ^1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 1’39.202s 15/18 339k 2 ˅1 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.001s 20/20 330k 3 ^1 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.025s 13/16 332k 4 ˅1 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.160s 18/19 344k 5 ^2 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.173s 19/20 336k 6 ^6 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.274s 19/19 328k 7 ^3 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.348s 19/20 336k 8 ˅3 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.350s 17/18 339k 9 ^6 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.378s 17/18 336k 10 ^1 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.461s 17/19 341k 11 ˅2 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.466s 18/19 338k 12 ^8 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +0.681s 18/19 335k 13 ^3 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.734s 16/18 334k 14 ˅8 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.793s 18/19 340k 15 ^4 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.859s 18/19 332k 16 ˅3 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.005s 17/17 332k 17 ^4 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.011s 18/19 335k 18 ˅1 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.011s 17/17 334k 19 ˅1 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.080s 20/20 338k 20 ^2 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.162s 19/19 334k 21 ˅7 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +1.414s 13/15 332k 22 ˅14 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +1.624s 4/18 341k

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Bagnaia frustrated after Emilia Romagna GP crash, says it was ‘win or gravel’

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia trailed Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo by 52 points coming into this weekend’s Misano race and only needed to be outscored by three for the championship to go to Quartararo. The Ducati rider led for the first 22 of 27 laps on Sunday from pole and was on course to keep the championship rolling to Portugal, as Quartararo’s recovery from 15th on the grid was set to end with fifth. But Bagnaia crashed at the penultimate corner on lap 23, leaving Quartararo to celebrate France’s first MotoGP world title. Bagnaia joined Ducati teammate Jack Miller in making a late change to the hard front tyre, which both admitted was a gamble in the cooler conditions but one that was working. However, it would ultimately lead to both riders crashing out of the race at the penultimate corner. “This for sure was not that because I lost concentration,” Bagnaia said of his title-ending crash. “I was pushing, today was either winning or gravel, and I tried all to achieve this win and I crashed. “The tyre choice was, I think, good because this was the only one that was helping me on the braking and the medium for me was worse than the soft. “Soft was already on the limit yesterday and this morning, so the hard was the correct choice. “The only thing was that you just needed to push every single lap like hell, to get the tyre hot, so this lap maybe I braked a little early in Turn 8 and, nothing. “What I just want to say is that we’re working a lot. It was difficult this weekend. The pace was stronger than five weeks ago [when I won the San Marino GP at Misano]. “So, we have to be happy about this. But for sure we are frustrated in this moment. “But it’s something that we have to be happy with because today we demonstrated that we were on top again.” Bagnaia was one of the first to congratulate Quartararo in pitlane after the Yamaha rider won the title and says he was “more deserving” of the championship. “I’m happy about my performance of today. For sure I’m a bit frustrated about the result because I think that we were deserving more but we just try to be always more competitive and for the next year we are for sure in a good way,” Bagnaia added. “And I told just to Fabio that he deserved this title. “For sure he was he was the one that was more deserving this title, so I’m happy for him and last year he was in my situation because was the first time he was winning like this and he committed errors in the last part of the season. “I’m in this situation now this year and for the next year I think we will come back more prepared.”

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