Everything was perfect, and I'm
really happy for Ducati for win-
ning the Constructors title."
Fifth in Portimao 2 was the
first satellite Ducati of Pramac's
Johann Zarco, who eventually
broke clear of a four-way tussle
with sixth-placed Pol Espar-
garo (Repsol Honda), teammate
Jorge Martin and Alex Rins
(Ecstar Suzuki).
Esponsarama Ducati's Enea
Bastianini came home in ninth
ahead of Red Bull KTM's Brad
Binder, with Takaaki Nakagami
(LCR Idemitsu Honda), Luca
Marini (Sky VR46 Avintia), Valen-
tino Rossi and Petronas Yamaha
teammate Andrea Dovizioso, and
Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda)
rounding out the top 15. Mav-
erick Vinales (Aprilia Racing
Gresini) and Franco Morbidelli
(Monster Energy Yamaha) com-
pleted the field.
It was not a happy first week-
end as World Champion for
Fabio Quartararo (Monster
Energy Yamaha). After qualifying
down in seventh, the Frenchman
was mired between Zarco, Rins,
Martin and Espargaro, unable to
break clear to chase after Miller
and Marquez. He would even-
tually crash out with five laps
remaining for his first non-score
of the season.
The championship has Quar-
tararo on an unassailable 267
points from Bagnaia's 227 with
Mir third on 195. The final round
of the 2021 MotoGP World
Championship will be held this
weekend at Valencia in Spain.
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 9, 2021 P65
MYOWNRACE
44 POL ESPARGARO
6TH MOTOGP
"Overall we did a good race, the start
was a pity because I was right with Alex
[Marquez] and Jack [Miller] but then Iker
[Lecuona] braked late and pushed me
out," Espargaro said. "I lost some posi ons
then and so I just had to focus on recover-
ing. My rhythm in the race was good a er
this and I have to say I am happy with the
pace; we were strong and performing well.
At one stage of the race, I was catching
Fabio and the Duca s ahead quite quickly.
Now we're in the top 10 in the champion-
ship and we keep improving with each
race, so let's end the season well. This is
the target now."
43 JACK MILLER
3RD MOTOGP
"It's nice to finally be back on the podium,
even though it was a li le strange to end
the race with a red flag," Miller said. "I was
ready for a big ba le on the last lap with
Alex Márquez, who was really close. But
I'm thrilled: we have worked well all week-
end, and in the last GP, we were able to be
compe ve in all sessions, just missing the
result on Sunday. Finally, we were able to
reap the benefits of our hard work today."
