For the 7th meeting of the season, the riders stayed in Misano on the Emilia Romagna circuit. A Grand Prix whose start and finish you absolutely shouldn’t have missed!
On the starting grid, Fabio Quartararo started on the front row behind Jack Miller’s Pramac Ducati and Mavrick Viñales’ factory Yamaha on pole position. At the start, it was the Australian who, as usual, took off better to take the lead in the race ahead of Viñales and our Nice-based rider. At the back, things got lively as last week’s winner, Franco Morbidelli, was pushed off the track, finding himself in last position.
A bit later, it was Valentino Rossi, the local hero, and then Brad Binder who found themselves on the ground, likely victims of rather low tire temperatures. Shortly after, Francesco Bagnaia got past our Frenchman, who found himself in 4th position, well ahead of the world championship leader Andrea Dovizioso, who was only 10th.
A crash that changes everything
As Bagnaia took the lead of the race from Viñales, the gaps widened between the top four. Under pressure from Johan Mir, Fabio accelerated and closed in on Paul Espargaro ahead of him, when, with seven laps to go, a twist occurred! Leader Bagnaia crashed, leaving the reins to Viñales. The latter came back into play in the championship, only three small points behind the Nice-based rider, who was himself tied on points with Dovizioso, still stuck in the middle of the standings.
In the final laps of the race, three riders were left to contest the last two podium spots. Mir, very strong at the end of the race like last week, overtook Quartararo and Espargaro, who was struggling with his Michelins. Fabio took advantage to claim third from the Spaniard from KTM, but would be penalized with a long lap for repeatedly exceeding track limits during the race. This penalty occurring on the last lap, the Frenchman crossed the finish line without taking it and was penalized by 3 seconds at the end of the Grand Prix, which dropped him off the podium. Furious, Fabio Quartararo immediately went to the stewards’ office after the race to contest the penalty… in vain!
