Beautiful Moto GP race: Oliveira wins in Barcelona, six riders fail to finish

Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya – that’s the official name of the Catalan Grand Prix of the Royal Moto GP category. We witnessed a great spectacle at the Barcelona circuit, with Miguel Oliveira winning the race and six riders failing to see the finish line.

Nearly nineteen and a half thousand spectators watched Sunday’s Moto GP Royal Cubature race, and what a spectacle it was. The first few laps already indicated a great battle for the standings.

Fabio Quartararo got off to a bad start to this race, taking his fifth consecutive pole position in Barcelona. Jack Miller on the Ducati took the race lead after the start, with Miguel Oliveira on the KTM overtaking Quartararo.

On the other hand, Joan Mir on a Suzuki motorcycle had a great start to the Catalan Grand Prix, moving up to fourth position. In the third round, Quartararo, the championship leader, in his attempt to get back on the podium, dropped down the standings again, and by the end of the fourth lap he was up to sixth place!

Aleix Espargaro and Jack Miller had a great battle on the fourth lap. Marc Márquez was cruising up the order. We saw the first crash on the fifth lap of the race, when Pol Espargaro failed to control his bike in turn 5.

This was also a terrible race for Valentino Rossi, who was up to seventeenth place at this point. One lap later, Danilo Petrucci also crashed at turn 9.

On lap seven of the Catalan Grand Prix, Quartararo was back up to second place and revived his hopes of victory.

Franco Morbidelli, who couldn’t get to grips with the hard tyre compound early in the race, also flew up the order. And on lap eight at Turn 10, Marc Márquez failed to control his Honda bike and was unable to finish the race for the third consecutive time.

On lap 11, Aleix Espargaro over braked at turn 10 and became the next rider to fail to finish this Grand Prix. On the next lap, Quartararo regained the top spot and pushed Oliveira off the top spot.

But he came back on the next lap and we watched a wonderful battle for the top spot.

Turn 10 was also fatal for the legendary #46 Rossi, who capped his misery in this race with a crash. A lap later we witnessed another accident when Iker Lecuona damaged his KTM motorcycle and was unable to continue the race.

On lap 20, four laps to go, the front tyre on Quartara’s bike was not looking good at all. The championship leader began to lose ground. Subsequently, we witnessed a very curious situation, as the Frenchman unzipped his overalls and finished the race without a chest protector.

As a result, he shortened turns 1 and 2, after which he received a three-second penalty from the race directors.

The final onslaught by Johann Zarco, who closed in on the race leader in the last two laps, was eventually survived by Oliveira to win the 2021 Catalan Grand Prix!

Thanks to the French rider’s penalty, Jack Miller and his Ducati are in third position. Fifth went to Mir on his Suzuki ahead of Maverick Viñales. Francesco Bagnaia crossed the line in seventh, Brad Binder in eighth and Franco Morbidelli on his Yamaha Racing motorcycle for the final ninth position.

Enea Bastianini rounded out the top ten. The seventh race on the Moto GP calendar is now over, and the next event is the Sachsenring Grand Prix in Germany on 20 June.

Source: Moto GP Live