Reigning world champion Quartararo – who announced he had re-signed with Yamaha for another two years last Thursday – ended training on Friday, “worried” about how the low traction of the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona is affecting Yamaha.
But he showed no signs of fighting as he led from lights to a flag to bolster his championship lead with his second win of the season.
Quartararo grabbed the hole from third in the grid, jumping Francesco Banya and the Pole Aleix Espargaro on Aprilia.
The Bagnaia race would only be a few meters away as LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami crashed behind him, destroying the Ducati rider with his head, while his wandering RC213V destroyed Suzuki’s Alex Rince.
The incident was investigated, but no further action was considered necessary, and Nakagami was taken to a preventive preventive medical center.
Bagnaia climbed again, but entered the pitlane at the end of the second round – his hopes for the championship were dashed.
Ducati’s day deteriorated in the eight laps when Enea Bastianini was eliminated in the second consecutive race, and the Gresini rider’s aspirations for the championship suffered a heavy blow.
In front, Quartararo, in the fresh air, quickly began to put daylight between himself and the pack behind in the first lap when Espargaro was attacked by the rejuvenated Jorge Martin of Pramac Ducati.
Martin overtook Espargaro in the first turn at the beginning of the third lap, as Johan Zarco from the sister Pramac GP22 close behind the fourth.
But Martin could do nothing to bridge the gap with Quartararo, who was 1.5 seconds clean at the start of the fourth lap and had that advantage of two seconds by the end of the sixth lap.
Espargaro returned second from Martin in turn 1 in lap 10, while Quartararo increased his lead to four seconds four laps later.
By this point in the race, Espargaro’s middle front tire had started to cry enough and Martin was able to chase him again, with the Pramac runner again in second place in turn 1 on lap 16.
But that position would change hands again, as Aprilia’s gentle nature on the tires allowed Espargaro to pass the fading Ducati slightly in the first four-lap turn.
Espargaro quickly left room between himself and Martin, but Quartararo’s pace never slowed when he dropped to the checkered flag by more than six seconds.
Quartararo’s day was better than Espargaro’s sensational blunder, as the Aprilia racer celebrated a comfortable second lap earlier, believing the race was over at the end of the 23rd lap.
Espargaro realized his mistake as he waved to his audience in the first few turns and quickly overtook Luca Marini of Ducati’s VR46 in turn 5 – but the fifth was all Espargaro would get for his efforts, losing eight seconds in the final lap.
As a result, Martin was gifted second – his first podium after Argentina – while Zarco was promoted to third.
Joan Mir also took advantage of Espargaro’s mistake, the Suzuki racer made a stunning start from 17th to sixth in the first lap and took the checkered flag fourth.
Marini caught up with Espargaro in sixth place, with Maverick Vinales failing to bet on his soft rear tire in seventh place ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira – who ran off the track at one point trying to overtake his teammate – and Alex Marquez. which rose from last to 10th place on his Honda LCR.
Remy Gardner finished 11th on the Tec h3 KTM ahead of fellow RNF Yamaha rookie Darin Binder, with Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), Ducati’s Jack Miller and Raul Fernandez (Tech3) dropping to 15th.
Honda’s Paul Espargaro had a miserable afternoon and was the last runner-up in 17th place after Ducati test rider Michele Piro, while RNF’s Andrea Dovizioso, Gresini’s Fabio Di Gianantonio and VR46’s Marco Bezzeki also failed to finish.
Quartararo already has a 22-point lead in the Espargaro Championship, with Bastianini trailing by 53 and 66 over Banya.
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