MotoGP: Quartararo Beats Vinales To Win Dutch GP, Extends Championship Lead

Fabio Quartararo extended his lead in the world championship after taking a smashing victory in the 2021 MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix at Assen. The Yamaha rider beat teammate and pole-sitter Maverick Vinales to claim his fourth win of the season. Finishing third was Joan Mir of Suzuki who made a fantastic comeback from 10th on the grid to take the last spot on the podium.

Also Read: MotoGP: Vinales Pips Quartararo To Bag Pole Position For Dutch GP

Quartararo was the faster of the two Yamahas and passed Vinales on Turn 1 of the opening lap to take the lead. But his charge was cut off earlier by a quick-paced Francesco Bagnaia on the Ducati. Bagnaia put up a strong offence to lead the race as he struck down advances from Quartararo over the next couple of laps. With 20 laps to go, the Frenchman found the opportunity to pass the Ducati rider and made the most of it.

On the podium - Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales and Joan Mir

With Quartararo now leading the race, Bagnaia was now fending off competition from the rest of the grid. The Ducati's lack of pace didn't go unnoticed as he struggled to keep up with the fast-approaching riders. To add to his woes, Bagnaia was hit with a long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits with 13 laps to go, which dropped him further to ninth place, ending his chances of claiming a podium this weekend. Meanwhile, Jack Miller on the other factory Ducati slid out of P8, and also attracted a black flag for a technical issue.

At the front, Vinales was now competing for the lead with his teammate, with Mir making strong moves to move up the ladder. Vinales' strong form was a breath of fresh air after his disappointing performance at the Sachsenring last weekend where he finished last. It also comes at a time when rumours are rife about Vinales and Yamaha announcing a split at the end of 2022.

Vinales was also the only rider on a soft front tyre, which helped him gain on Quartararo, who had built a sizeable lead of 3.5s. However, the Frenchman did not put one wrong foot today and maintained his lead, taking the chequered flag by a margin of 2.757s. The Spaniard crossed the line second securing his first podium since winning the opening round at Qatar this season.

Marc Marquez recovered from 20th on the grid to 7th at the end of the race

The battle for the third spot was equally interesting with Mir keeping Johann Zarco on the Pramac Ducati at bay, while Miguel Oliveira setting for fifth behind the two riders. Bagnaia recovered to take P6, while Marc Marquez finished at P7 from 20th on the grid, after struggling through the weekend with multiple crashes.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro claimed eighth ahead of LCR's Takaaki Nakagami who came quite close to take third on the podium, while Pol Espargaro rounded up to the top 10 finishers of the day. Alex Rins of Suzuki finished at P11 after being sent off-track after making contact with Zarco and rejoined last. Finishing next was Brad Binder on the factory KTM, ahead of Tech 3's Danilo Petrucci and LCR's Alex Marquez. Enea Bastianini of Avintia Ducati took the final point finishing 15th.

Lorenzo Savadori of Aprilia finished at P16, followed by Franco Morbidelli's replacement Garrett Gerloff at Yamaha SRT finished 17th in his maiden MotoGP race. The final finisher was Luca Marini of Avintia Ducati.

Iker Lecuona of Tech 3 KTM and Jorge Martin of Pramac Ducati were the other non-finishers, while Valentino Rossi on the SRT Yamaha had an early exit too after suffering a bike-destroying crash at Turn 7.