MotoGP lined up for the Italian Grand Prix with a minute silence pre-race to honor the memory of Jason Dupasquier, who passed away earlier today after crashing in Moto3 qualifying yesterday. Fabio Quartararo was on pole with Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco alongside. Ducati has their holeshot device and are hoping to lead into San Donato.
Before the lights even went out, Enea Bastianini crashed while gridding up, as he almost went over Zarco’s bike and was out. The start went on though, and Bagnaias and Quartararo went off the line equal. It was Bagnaia who led, with Miguel Oliveira all the way up to third, but Zarco took him into the Biondetti chicane.
Marc Marquez went down, and so did the race leader, Bagnaia, who went down at Arrabbiata 2. He would not win in Italy, and he would not stay second in the title. Zarco took the lead from Quartararo down the straight, but Quartararo wasn’t going down without a fight.
They fought and fought, Zarco and Quartararo exchanging the lead in a grand French fight over the next few laps. Zarco took the lead on the start line, but Quartararo took it for good at the Casa Nova chicane. Quartararo then left the rest of the field and was a lot quicker. The win looked to be his.
The battle at this point was Alex Rins vs. Jack Miller vs. Joan Mir for fourth. The Ducati of Miller had horsepower and kept going past the Suzuki which would pass in the turns. Eventually, Rins got past for good, with Mir following through and Brad Binder gobbling up Miller as well.
A battle for second between Zarco and Oliveira began, with the Suzuki boys closing in as well. The four of them were covered by a second by lap 15, and the next lap, Oliveira went up to second. Mir took Zarco not long after, and there was no Ducati on the podium. Zarco was obviously going backward and was passed by Rins on lap 19.
Then Rins crashed. He binned it again, for the fourth race in a row, and he could now just about kiss goodbye to any outside chance at the world championship. Nakagami followed him into retirement, and Michele Pirro ran off the road but rejoined.
The fight for second place was raging. Mir vs. Oliveira. The Suzuki had the pace in the turns but the KTM could run away in a straight line. It was obvious that Quartararo would win as we entered the last lap, but we did not yet know who would be second.
It was Oliveira, who took his first podium since Portugal 2020, but to the winner goes the spoils, Fabio Quartararo won the Italian Grand Prix. Third was Mir with Zarco fourth, and a first top 10 in a long time for Valentino Rossi
Then, post-race, Oliveira lost second place due to a track limits penalty. Mir would stand second on the podium with Oliveira third. But there would be no celebrating on the podium, as Quartararo highlighted as he had dedicated his win to Depasquier.
UPD: Incredibly, after the post-race penalty for Oliveira, his place was reinstated because Mir got a penalty for running off track as well.
