The Devil Fabio Quartararo spoiled Aleix Espargaró’s party with a superb victory at the Catalunya GP. The rider from Granollers ended up ruining the race with a huge mistake for which he burst into tears of rage: on the penultimate pass through the finish line, when he was second, the rider from Aprilia ended the race early, he was overtaken by three rivals and finished in a 5th place that tasted like lightning in his home grand prix. Quartararo escapes him to 22 points.
Fabio Quartararo built his second victory of the year from the start. Aleix Espargaró started well from pole, but the Frenchman braked much better, who from third place on the grid conquered the first corner beforehand and began to pull like a devil to try to escape. In one lap he was 4 tenths ahead of the Aprilia rider, in two laps it was already 7. It was his tactic: push as hard as possible and open up a distance that would allow him to manage the tires later.
There was noise from behind. Nakagami took Alex Rins and Pecco Bagnaia ahead under braking for the first corner. The Japanese braked very hard, his front axle stopped, his motorcycle hit Rins and his head hit the wheel of the Ducati. Three pilots out of action in the first haul.
In the position climbs, the most outstanding was that of Joan Mir, from 17th on the grid to 7th at the start, and Pol Espargaró jumped from 10th to fifth, although in the first laps he fell back to ninth, surpassed by Mir, Marini, Bastianini and even Viñales. The one from Honda Repsol would only go backwards, until finishing last. A career disaster.
In the third lap there was a change of script on the initial forecast. Jorge Martín, very explosive, overtook Aleix for second place, while Quartararo unexpectedly pulled away to 1.8 seconds (lap 5) on Martín and 2 seconds on Aleix.
As the laps fell, it was confirmed that the Montmeló race was one of survival, of holding out until the end. To the loss of a candidate like Bagnaia (4th in the World Championship), Enea Bastianini (3rd) was also added on lap 8 when he lost control of his Ducati on the descent of turn 5. Two retirements that they favored Quartararo and Aleix Espargaró, who would distance themselves from the Ducati.
The Aprilia rider made a move not to miss the Quartararo train. Aleix overtook Martín at the end of the straight on lap 10 to start chasing the Frenchman. He had it to 3.3 seconds with 14 laps to go. It was a matter of pushing and managing at the same time, and putting pressure on the Yamaha. Would he be able to reach him, and at the same time not be surprised by Zarco and Mir?
Halfway through the race, lap 12 of 24, the distance between the French and the Catalan was 3.6 seconds. The two traced the times per lap. But Quartararo linked three laps in a row adding 3 to 5 tenths to Aleix, who was down at 4.8 and bowed to a relentless Martín, who overtook him at the end of the straight to snatch second position, with 8 laps to go. The Aprilia’s front wheel was scary because of its wear.
However, Aleix was not satisfied with the third place on the podium and put pressure on Martín, hot on his heels. On lap 21, with four to go, Espargaró hit the Madrid native with an ax at the end of the straight to win second position. But he already had Quartararo far away, 5.8 seconds with three laps to go. A world that would not reduce if there was no dramatic drop in the tire of the Yamaha.
At least, the rider from Aprilia was able to consolidate the second position against Martín, who was unable to follow the pull of the rider from Granollers and dropped 7 tenths to face the last two laps.
However, Aleix made one of his worst mistakes: he finished the race one lap before the checkered flag, saluted the crowd, and lost second position. Martín, Zarco, Mir and Marini overtook him, while he was waving during two curves. He realized it and was still able to recover a position, from Marini, and reap a fifth place that he tasted like misery. The one from Granollers was crying with rage in his garage.
Sensational was the performance of Àlex Márquez, who started last on the grid (25th) after the crash on Saturday that prevented him from contesting the classification, and finished in the points, 10th. The cross was Pol Espargaró, who finished last, 17th.
