MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy – Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia survived a late charge from world championship leader Fabio Quartararo to win the San Marino Grand Prix and claim a second straight MotoGP victory.
Pole-sitter Bagnaia led by 2.7 seconds at one stage before Quartararo closed the gap in the final laps, cutting the Italian’s lead to two-tenths of a second.
Rookie Enea Bastianini of Avintia Ducati enjoyed a superb race to secure a podium finish after starting 12th on the grid. Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez finished fourth.
By lap nine Bagnaia’s lead was close to three seconds, but that gap steadily started to come down by a few tenths here and there.
Bagnaia opted for the soft rear tyre as Quartararo went for the medium, and this choice looked to be inspired as Miller’s pace began to drop.
On lap 14, Quartararo carved through on the struggling Miller into the Turn 6 left-hander, with the Frenchman able to get Bagnaia’s lead down with just eight laps to go.
Behind, Avintia rookie Bastianini aced his start from 12th on the grid and was up to fourth by lap six having carved past the Honda of six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez at the Quercia left-hander.
Easing up to the back of the struggling Miller, Bastianini scythed past the factory Ducati rider on his two-year-old Avintia-run Desmosedici through the Turn 13 right-hander to move up to third.
Quartararo continued to erode Bagnaia’s lead, the Ducati rider’s advantage dropping under six tenths with three laps to go as Quartararo piled the pressure on.
Quartararo visibly had better grip than the Ducati ahead, but Bagnaia could keep the Yamaha at bay using the brute power of the GP21 on the straights.
This closed all avenues for Quartararo to make an overtake on the final lap, Bagnaia staying upright to claim his second career MotoGP victory 0.364 seconds ahead of Yamaha’s Quartararo.
Bastianini’s charge towards Quartararo wilted in the latter stages, but the Avintia rider ended up 5.4s clear of the chasing Marquez to claim his first MotoGP podium and the second-ever for the Avintia squad.
Marquez just fended off Suzuki’s Joan Mir to score fourth, though the latter was dropped behind Miller at the chequered flag owing to a track limits penalty.
Pol Espargaro was seventh on the sister factory Honda ahead of his Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix, with KTM’s Brad Binder and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami completing the top 10.
Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro was 11th ahead of a struggling Johann Zarco, the Pramac rider dropping from fifth on the grid to 12th at the chequered flag.
Maverick Vinales scored points on his second Aprilia appearance in 13th, with Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl and LCR’s Alex Marquez rounding out the top 15.
Valentino Rossi recovered from 23rd on the grid to finish 17th on his penultimate appearance in front of his adoring home fans on the Petronas SRT Yamaha, with Tech 3’s Danilo Petrucci 1.1s up the road in 16th.
