Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) has made history by becoming the first-ever Frenchman to win a MotoGP world championship after finishing fourth at the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP 2021.

The pilot from Niza was able to snatch his otherwise well-deserved crown following the crash of title rival Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati). With two races remaining and 50 points left up for grabs, El Diablo’s 62-point advantage over Bagnaia was enough to seal his title win with two races still to go. 

Enea Bastianini completed the podium repeating his feat of last month in this very track. The Avintia Esponsorama Racing rider snatched third place from Quartararo on one of the final corners.  

Quartararo has brought back the sceptre to Yamaha, after their 2017 victory by the hand of Jorge Lorenzo. The Frenchman has also put an end to the Spanish winning streak that began in 2012. 

Contrary to the success of the Japanese team, Ducati has suffered a total debacle. Bagnaia has not been the only Ducati rider to crash at the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP 2021, his teammate Jack Miller, who had been supporting him for much of the race, has also fallen, clearing the way for Marc to climb up to second behind the Italian and start accosting him until he drove him to error. 

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It was an unlucky day for Bagnaia. He had been the fastest throughout the race leading right from a great start. The Italian was able to hang on to his pole position for most of the event leading a trio with Miller and Marquez.

The Spaniard had climbed from seventh to third in the blink of an eye over the first few meters. Soon, these three pilots were breaking away from the rest of the pack in their very own fight for the win. In just a couple of laps, they had already opened a 1.3-second distance with Pol Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira and Franco Morbidelli. 

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Quartararo, on the other hand, had only climbed three places, from fifteenth to twelfth during those first laps. After the fourth lap, however, something happened that was to change the course of the race… and of the Championship.

Miller, who until then had contained Marquez, allowing Bagnaia to lead the test, crashed to the ground. From then on, the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP would become an Italo-Spanish duel. 

Pecco crashes handing the title to Quartararo 

Pecco set a great pace which allowed him to remain unchallenged at the front with Marquez struggling to keep up as laps went by. Just before Pecco went to the ground he had managed to open a one-second distance with the Spaniard.

The lack of grip of his front wheel, however, was to let him down. His fall gave Quartararo, who had risen to third place, the crown. He didn’t even need to finish the race. Aware of this, he gave Bastianini third place at one of the last corners. 

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