Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia bounced back from a crash at the prior round to win the MotoGP race at Mugello yesterday. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) rode brilliantly to come home in second despite losing several tenths of a second on the long front straight each lap to the much faster Ducatis and other bikes around him. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) took third place.
In his final race before an extended break for surgery and rehab, Marc Marquez (Honda) finished in tenth position.
Quartararo continues to lead the championship points as the MotoGP series heads to Barcelona next weekend. For full results of yesterday’s race, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site.
Man, it’s sad to see what’s happening to Marquez. He’s so exciting to watch, but the very thing that makes his riding style so exciting, also makes it very risky. All those crashes are going to force him to retire soon, and leave him in constant pain for the rest of his life.
That is the price he chose to pay for glory.
Looks like the two guys on the VR46 team are worth keeping an eye on. They did well in what looked like a chaotic qualifing and they got solid race results. Kind of the new Suzuki.
What’s up with the old Suzuki? Did they take each other out? They seem to have checked out on the same lap.
Mir lost the front, Rins collided with Nakagami with each blaming each other for the collision.
mm#93 is in deep denial as to the trajectory of his physical status.
Completely correct.
Crazy how the Ducatis blew past QuabFart lap after lap on the long straight. That was some heroic late braking to fight back.
I was surprised by how little they out speeded him. Many passes he was not challenged on the straight. If the Yamaha is as slow as people like to believe them it should be impossible for him (or anyone) to compete on a track with a over 1km straight.
Well, Dave, we must have been watching different races. 😉
Must have. The one I watched had Q in 2nd place with all but one of the Ducatis behind him.
Quartararo got swallowed on the straights a lot, only regain the advantage on the brakes before the turn. He got killer drive out of the last two turns before coming into the straight which is what I think really kept the wolves at bay.
I think this is a case where language matters. “Swallowed” strongly implies that he was defeated by straight line speed but he wasn’t. He was threatened, which he fended off with braking and corner speed. If he got into the turn first, he ultimately got down the straight the fastest, even if he was a couple of kmh slower at top speed.
At the moto-GP level, “a couple kmh” can make a pretty huge difference, Dave. Believe it or not. Imagine riding your bike past a parked bike at a couple of kmh. That’s how much faster your competition is than you are. It’s a tough deficit to overcome. A couple of tenths of a second in lap time at this elite level makes a huge diff.
Gary, as I posted, FQ did overcome it. Nobody translated that advantage into enough to beat him and he was never more than 2 seconds from the eventual winner.
I think this speed deficit is blown way out of proportion. Hardly anyone can beat him with this advantage and everyone else who’s losing to the Ducatis need a lot more than 3km/h at the end of the straight to make up their deficit.
I don’t see where semantics have anything to do with it. The point I believe Gary was making, and I agree with, was that the Ducatis we’re clearly more powerful, and Quartararo still managed to best all but one of them in the end with an impressive display of skill throughout the whole race. If this is an argument, I really don’t understand what it is about.
I disagree. If FQ was able to stay in front of the Ducatis on this track, with it’s almost comically long straight then the Ducatis are only marginally more powerful. This advantage continues to be overstated.
You can disagree, but that requires the same level of denial as a flat earther.
I’m kidding of course. But you’re opinion differs from that of every racer and expert on or off the grid. So that at least makes you like that one scientist that climate change deniers keep quoting.😀
But it isn’t denial, it’s objective observation. “Clearly more powerful” implies that other bikes can overtake on power at will but they can’t.
Nobody denies the Ducati is more powerful and a little faster at the end of the straight, what’s in dispute is the tangible advantage that results from it. “blew past” and “got swallowed” are exaggerations. If FQ can fend these challenges off on the brakes and triumph at the end then the advantage is small.
I think this is an example of a rider just sticking to their program for fastest laps, and the fact he wasn’t trying to run the same program as the others, it basically kind of gave him a clear track if you will.
Okay, Imma come right out and just say it… the racing through 8 races has been less than exciting this season. Sure, it’s great that there are so many talented riders who are capable of winning or podium’ing on race day, but there haven’t been any close and exciting battles up front for the win in any contest to date. The opening splash reel showing some classic moments at Mugello in years’ past really drove home the point of how truly exciting MotoGP can be, and how much has been lacking so far this year. Here’s hoping for some exciting wheel-to-wheel racing for the win in upcoming battles before the season is over.
I have to ask, less than exciting compared to what? MotoGP has been closer and less predictable than it ever has. Bagnia and Quartararo “battled” for tenths of a second for the entire race without ever changing track positions and both held it together barely making a single mistake. Bezzechi and Marini were brilliant in their first visits to the front of a GP. I thought this was one of the best races I’d seen in a while.
Less exciting compared to seasons past. But you’re right of course, it’s still way more interesting than watching Indy Car, Formula 1 and snooze fest NASCAR. The Indy 500 was another 3-1/2 hour parade, with the only “excitement” coming after the inevitable car crashing on the high bank in Turn 2 or 3, watching all the “action” in pit lane, and then racking ’em all up again for another restart and waiting for the NEXT inevitable Turn 2 or 3 crash. If it wasn’t for the red flag with 4 laps to go, which was manufactured by the officials, there would have been no drama at the finish line at all.
But I digress. Yes, the two leaders at the front of Mugello, Bagnaia and Quartararo, displayed exceptional riding skills and kept vacillating between a couple tenths of each other. But not a single pass between these two took place the entire race. Fabio never showed a wheel to Pecco. There was never ANY side to side racing, never a moment where you thought a pass was imminent. Don’t get me wrong, I love MotoGP and have thoroughly enjoyed some epic battles in the almost 20 seasons I’ve been watching. But this, so far, is not one of them.
I went from attending races regularly to not watching anything at all. They shifted to four stroke in GP and motocross and that was all she wrote for me. I used to go to and follow AMA and WSB as well. But without the sun, there is no moon. I look at results mainly because I have been coming here for thirty years. It was a heard it here first kind of place back in the day. That changed with the shift to four strokes as well. That shift cost the industry a lot more than just money.
Mick, you are aware that the industry has *grown* with the shift to 4-stroke engines, aren’t you?
Racing at the highest level is objectively better too. Gone are the days when only 2 or 3 riders had any chance of winning. Now there are more competitive machines and more riders capable of winning on them in all classes, except for AMA road racing (where besides a short-lived 250gp class there never were 2-strokes) because we’re American and can’t do many things right.
I don’t totally disagree with you. The racing hadn’t been the most exciting this year, but I’d have to say that is only relative to the past few years. We’ve gotten a little spoiled.
As for Sunday’s race, I actually thought it was pretty exciting watching the three podium guys claw their way into their positions, watching Bagnaia and Quartararo flirt with tenths of a second on the limit trying to move the trench line in their favor. No, there weren’t any spectacular last lap fireworks, but I really enjoyed the race nonetheless.
Looks like the Japanese manufacturers are bending and bowing out to the Ducs & now with Aprillia getting their act together putting them under more stress,it’s not good for the sport cause if the trend continues it could be an all Italian show down the road .Honda has depended on one rider since 2013 to win them constructor & moto-gp titles , now with Marquez going for operation # 4 on his right arm & probably won’t be back this year & maybe the end of his career depending on his recovery.I hope they can sign someone like Pedro Acosta who shows great promise as they need someone to get them back in the fight ,also would be good if Kawasaki who with Johnathon Rea has dominated in WSBK would have a Moto-gp factory team .
Well, the Japanese got rather complacent and failed to notice when the Italians upped the game while they were doing so rather than after.
Getting ahead of yourself. Honda is sounding alarm bells. Yamaha won last year’s championship and leads this one. They’ll get it figured out.
Heroic ride by Fabio. Story of the race. One blue spec against a horde of Italian reds and greens.
Crazy to think that next year there will only be six Japanese bikes on the grid, and only four of those six have a chance at being competitive. If Honda and Yamaha don’t seriously improve their bikes, it won’t even be four; it’ll be more like two, assuming #93 can somewhat return to form. If not, it will again be Fabio Against The World.
If Fabio bails for faster pastures this offseason, as he very well may, then Japan, Inc. may not have a single competitive bike or rider next year.
Honda and Yamaha had better get their shit together, sooner rather than later, before MotoGP becomes an All Euro championship.
Still cheering for Aprilia
Quartararo really is a stand out rider on that machine – I wouldn’t be surprised to find him winning the title this year, in the style of the mature Eddie Lawson – taking the wins on offer and the points when they are not. And next year? Him again. Maybe.
Pecco is going great guns as is Aliex. Thats your top 3 alright.