Márquez reigns in Misano and Pol Espargaró gets on the podium
MADRID, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The French rider Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) was proclaimed this Sunday MotoGP world champion after finishing fourth in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and his main rival for the title, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), fell when he was leading the test in Misano, in which the Spaniard Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) finally prevailed ahead of his compatriot Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda).
At the farewell of Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) from Misano, Quartararo became the first French champion of the premier class after ‘Pecco’, with four laps to go to the checkered flag and when he was leading, suffered a fall that it banished all his options to dream of the title.
Thus, the Nice driver was limited to driving calmly to enter the fourth finish line, after at the last moment the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) deprived him of his eleventh podium in 16 races by overtaking him and being third.
With this, he breaks a ten-year streak of consecutive titles for Spain in MotoGP, taking over from Joan Mir (Suzuki), and achieves the first Yamaha title in the premier class since 2015, when Jorge Lorenzo also obtained it.
Meanwhile, Marc Márquez was able to celebrate his second consecutive victory, the first on a right-wing circuit since 2019, to show his improvement after the injury, and Pol Espargaró, second, completed the Repsol Honda double.
In a smooth start, ‘Pecco’ defended his privileged position escorted by his Ducati Lenovo Team partner, Australian Jack Miller (Ducati), who said goodbye to his participation very soon. With 23 laps still to go, he crashed when he was second and allowed Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) to take his position and Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) to take third.
While, the leader of the World-wide one traced little by little positions from the thirteenth of exit; After the halfway point, he was ninth, and with a double overtake on turn 15 he placed seventh. Lap by lap, he settled in fifth place before everything was blown up.
Ahead, the two Repsol Hondas pressured ‘Pecco’ to try to climb one more step, but the transalpine, for whom every point will be vital, did not slacken, and perhaps the risk led to his, with only four laps ahead, his motorcycle ended up on the gravel. Quartararo was the new champion.
As for the rest of the Spanish, Àlex Rins (Suzuki) finished sixth, just ahead of Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia). For his part, Jorge Martín (Ducati) had to leave after suffering a fall, like Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Iker Lecuona (KTM), and Álex Márquez (Honda) retired due to technical problems.