As had already been the case at the Portuguese Grand Prix on April 24, during his first victory of the season, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) delivered a real recital on Sunday at the Barcelona circuit, and won the MotoGP Catalunya GP alone. It is also the 10th victory of his career in the queen category, which allows him to further widen the gap at the top of the World Championship standings.
Quartararo wins by more than six seconds
Third on the starting grid behind the Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Quartararo got everyone to agree, from the start, by taking first place immediately after departure. And very quickly, he began to outrun the competition. More than three seconds ahead with 15 laps to go, almost five seconds when there were still eight laps to go…
The French pilot triumphed without ever being worried. The Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati), second in the race, finished more than six seconds behind the reigning world champion. Thanks to this new victory, Quartararo is now 22 points ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) in the Championship standings. The Spaniard has made the mistake of the weekend.
Aleix Espargaro stopped too soon…
On the last lap, he indeed suddenly slowed down, thinking that the Grand Prix was over. Second at the time of his blunder, Aleix Espargaro finally finished in fifth place. And made one happy: Johann Zarco. French, who should extend with Ducati and Pramacwas fourth since the start of the Grand Prix, but, taking advantage of the distraction of the Spaniard, he finally completed the podium.
The Catalan Grand Prix was marked by other, much tougher incidents. A terrible crash from the start sent three riders (Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami) to the ground. It was the Japanese who was at fault on the action.
A little later, Enea Bastianini (Ducati), third in the World Championship, was forced to retire, after also suffering a fall. The Italian driver is now 53 points behind Fabio Quartararo in the standings. And Johann Zarco is even more on his heels (fourth, three points). The next Grand Prix will take place on June 19 in Germany.
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