par L’Italien aura mené cette course de bout en bout pour inscrire son troisième succès de l’année.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) ne pouvait plus prétendre à la couronne mondiale, mais le poleman avait à cœur de triompher ce dimanche et personne ne lui aura opposé la moindre résistance.
Auteur d’une course parfaite, le représentant du team Ducati Lenovo inscrivait ainsi son troisième succès de l’année. Parallèlement, notre Niçois Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) se faisait piéger. Ducati repart autrement dit avec le titre constructeur.
Un cavalier seul de Bagnaia
Le holeshot était pourtant à mettre au crédit de Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team), sauf que le Turinois allait mieux ressortir de ce premier virage et ne sera plus jamais inquiété. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) aura bien tenté de le suivre, juste après être venu à bout de Jack Miller… En vain, le Majorquin devait se rendre à l’évidence : le n°63 était un cran au-dessus de la concurrence ce dimanche.
Derrière, Alex Márquez (LCR Honda Castrol) se débarrassait de Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda Team), de Jorge Martín (Pramac Racing), puis de Jack Miller pour s’emparer de la troisième place. Pas vraiment du goût de l’Australien qui répliquait quelques boucles plus tard. De son côté, Fabio Quartararo connaissait une première alerte et perdait le contrôle de sa M1 dans le virage 5. ‘El Diablo’ venait de grimper au sixième rang.
⚔️ @alexmarquez73 will have to fight for this!@jackmilleraus wants third place back! 👊#AlgarveGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/XPYGHZGZAF
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 7, 2021
Un Grand Prix écourté
Au bout du compte, ce GP d’Algarve était écourté à deux tours du but en raison d’un accrochage survenu dans la courbe 13 ; Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) embarqué Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) dans sa chute. Déception pour le local de l’étape, qui avait gagné pas moins de neuf positions au départ.
Francesco Bagnaia s’imposait du coup avec 2.4 secondes d’avance sur Joan Mir, tandis que Jack Miller grimpait sur la troisième marche du podium, au pied duquel Alex Márquez terminait. Notre second Français Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) terminait de son côté cinquième. Ce dernier est au passage assuré de ce trophée qui récompense le meilleur pilote indépendant. Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda Team) et Jorge Martín se classaient quant à eux sixième et septième. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) et Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) complétaient le Top 10.
The second half of the season has belonged to @PeccoBagnaia! 🇮🇹
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 7, 2021
Three wins in the last five races! 🏆🏆🏆#AlgarveGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/mjmZ274vp4
Congraulations @ducaticorse!!! 👏
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 7, 2021
Back-to-back Constructors Championships! 🏆🏆#AlgarveGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/kYZzNt22nC
La prochaine course aura lieu dans une semaine à Valence. Reste encore les titres constructeurs et de Rookie of the Year à attribuer !
English Information
Bagnaia hands Ducati Constructors crown in red-flagged race
The Italian converted pole into victory number three of the season as Ducati retain their title; Quartararo suffers first DNF of 2021
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was unstoppable at the Grande Prémio Brembo do Algarve and picked up his third victory of the season, with his latest 25-point haul handing Ducati the 2021 Constructors title. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) completed the podium in Portimao as the race ended prematurely, with an Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) crash at Turn 13 bringing out the red flags – riders conscious, Oliveira headed to the medical centre for a check-up.
Bagnaia in cruise control, Ducati retain Constructor crown, Quartararo crashes
Miller propelled his GP21 off the line very well and grabbed the holeshot diving down the hill into Turn 1, but the Australian was slightly wide, allowing polesitter Bagnaia through and into the lead. Lap 1 saw Mir pass Miller at Turn 8, the Spaniard making his front row start count, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) losing a couple of positions.
Pecco and Mir soon found themselves nearly a second clear of Miller, who had Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Quartararo in hot pursuit. Pecco started to get the hammer down on Lap 7, his lead was up to 0.7s over Mir, who in turn was a second up the road from Miller. Third place soon went to Alex Marquez though, the double World Champion got the job done at Turn 1 at the beginning of Lap 12.
As things stood, with Pecco leading and Quartararo 7th, Ducati would be crowned Constructors Champions. And Pecco’s lead was stretching. With 12 laps to go, the Italian’s lead was up to 1.9s over Mir, who was sat 1.3s ahead of Alex Marquez. 2.4s was Bagnaia’s advantage with nine laps to go, Mir was holding Alex Marquez and Miller at bay by just over a second, with Martin, Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) and Quartararo a second and a half down on the podium fight.
With five laps to go, at Turn 5, Quartararo slipped out of contention. A first DNF of the season was endured by the World Champion, not the way he imagined his Algarve GP going – rider ok. Focus turned then turned to the Miller vs Alex Marquez fight, the Aussie still leading that ding-dong, before a crash involving Lecuona and home hero Oliveira at Turn 13 brought out the red flags. Both riders were conscious and eventually up on their feet, but with three-quarters of the race completed, the race was declared a result at the beginning of Lap 24.
Pecco’s victory ultimately ensured Ducati retained their Constructor crown, a fantastic way to bounce back after the disappointment felt by the Bologna camp at Misano. Mir returns to the rostrum for the first time since Aragon, Miller too ends a podium drought that stretched back to the Catalan GP.
Portimao’s points scorers
Alex Marquez’ fantastic weekend ended with the Spaniard unluckily missing out on a chance to attack Miller for the final podium spot, but it was nonetheless a brilliant rider from the LCR Honda Castrol man – a best result of the season for the number 73. Zarco claimed a lonely P6 in the end, a result that confirms the Frenchman as the top Independent Team rider in 2021. Pol Espargaro’s P6 was a job well done for the Spaniard, and talking of jobs well done, Martin’s P7 was fantastic.
Only a few months on from his Turn 7 horror crash, Martin returned to Portimao to pick up an impressive result to help Pramac Racing become Independent Team Champions – with Martin now just three points down on Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) in the Rookie of the Year fight. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) finished 8th ahead of Bastianini in 9th, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia), Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Andrea Dovizioso (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Marc Marquez’ stand-in Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) completed the points positions, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) were the other finishers in Portimao.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) suffered DNFs in the Algarve.
Pecco is back on top! The Italian has secured the silver medal in the MotoGP™ World Championship, as well as helping Ducati secure the Constructor crown. Now, Ducati Lenovo Team and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP go head-to-head for the Teams Championship title in Valencia. The season finale is just around the corner – don’t miss out on all the action.
