VOLUME 59 ISSUE 12 MARCH 22, 2022 P73
Miller had his hands full with
Zarco and eventually Quartararo,
who was rejuvenated in fourth and
would eventually make his way up
to second, closing on Oliveira until
two laps from the end, when the
KTM man responded to record a
2.2-second win.
"I followed Jack for a couple of
laps and then I understood I could
go a bit faster, so when I overtook
him, I just tried to focus for the
next five laps to do the maximum I
could," Oliveira said. "Then I built
a gap and just managed through-
out the whole race, but for sure
it wasn't easy. The last couple of
months haven't been easy for me,
so to be back like this with this in-
credible win, it's really emotional. I
promised my daughter I would get
her a trophy from Indonesia, so
this one is for you, baby."
Quartararo's second was cred-
ited by the man himself as his
best-ever wet MotoGP ride, one
that saw him top Yamaha rider
by five positions over teammate
Franco Morbidelli.
"I didn't expect this!" Quartara-
ro said. "Already from the warm-
up lap it felt like we had some-
thing extra compared to normal,
because we know that we always
struggle in wet conditions. When
it's full wet and there's grip, I
know my potential. But today I
did better than I expected! I saw
an opportunity and went for it."
Zarco's third place was his first
podium of the year, although the
Frenchman lamented early mis-
takes that cost him the chance to
fight for the win.
MYOWNRACE
44 POL ESPARGARO
12TH MOTOGP
"This was a race about survival, this whole
weekend has been about surviving," Pol
Espargaro said. "We came here and had a
super produc ve test and then things out
of our control changed the situa on. Dur-
ing the start of the race my visor became
super dirty with all the dust from the track
in the spray of the other riders. When I
was behind Pecco I could see his red light,
but then when I passed him, I was alone,
and it was very difficult. I hit the curb be-
cause I couldn't properly see it and I made
a big save. Finally we are sixth, only 10
points off the lead which is very good."
23 ENEA BASTIANINI
11TH MOTOGP
"It took a while to get the right feeling,
especially as in the early laps I couldn't
see anything due how wet the track was,
so I struggled a bit," Enea Bas anini said.
"Then li le by li le I was able to make
my way back, I found my rhythm and I
was fast—especially in the last 10 laps.
Unfortunately, when I reached the group
of seven riders ahead, I was pushed wide
at turn two by Darryn Binder a er I passed
all of them—and that made me go back
to the end of the group. I was able, once
again, to recover and in the end an 11th
place is not too bad. I could have finished
eighth, and I'm sorry for that, but it was
important to score some points—and in
the end it was a good race."
Pol Espargaro
was fast on Friday
but that didn't
translate into wet-
weather pace.
