QUARTARARO DOMINATES AT MUGELLO

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo converted pole position into a dominant victory in Mugello to extend his lead in MotoGP championship standings.

The Frenchman benefited from Yamaha’s new front holeshot device to avoid being swallowed up by the field at the start like in previous races this season.

But it was Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia who made the best start to lead the opening lap in an intense battle with Quartararo.

In his home race, Bagnaia fought hard to hold the lead until a mistake on the second lap abruptly ended his race in the gravel trap at Arrabbiata 2.

It wasn’t the only crash of the lap with Honda’s Marc Marquez making contact with KTM’s Brad Binder at the Poggiosecco ending the race of the multiple-time champion.

Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli also plummeted down the order after having to make detouring through gravel to avoid the sliding bike of Marquez.

With Bagnaia out of the race, Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) stepped up to challenge Quartararo briefly.

However, the Yamaha rider used the pace he showed in qualifying to build a comfortable 1-second margin by the end of the sixth lap. Extending the gap all the way to the end of the race.

Zarco dropped back into the clutches of KTM’s Miguel Oliveira and the two factory Suzuki’s of Alex Rins and Joan Mir in the battle for the remaining podium places.

Rins wouldn’t stay in contention for long, continuing his string of DNF’s by crashing out at the last corner on lap 19.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) also crashed out of the race late at Turn 14 while in eighth place.

Oliveira and Mir battled all the way to the chequered flag for second place and despite penalties to both riders, the KTM rider was able to hold off the Suzuki.

Zarco crossed the line in fourth ahead of Brad Binder on the second factory KTM bike.

Australian Jack Miller had a brief battle with the two factory Suzuki’s at the start of the race before an uneventful race to the end to finish in sixth, his best result at the circuit.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM), and Valentino Rossi (Petronas SRT Yamaha) rounded out the top ten.

Quartararo’s win sees him build his championship lead to 24 points over Zarco. While Bagnaia dropped to third just 4 points ahead of his Australian teammate.

MotoGP returns to Spain next weekend for the Catalan Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

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