(Motorsports news) Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo wins his first MotoGP world title at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Pecco Bagnaia unfortunately crashed in the closing stages. The crash meant that Marc Marquez won his third race of the season as his compatriot Pol Espargaro finished second to give Honda a historic one-two. Avintia rider and rookie Enea Bastianini moved up from 16th to finish third to round up the top three.

Pole setter Bagnaia got off to an amazing start as he along with his teammate Jack Miller set the pace up front in the beginning, Marc Marquez too had a good start as the top three broke away from the rest. Jack Miller pressed his teammate in the first few laps but the Australian made a mistake on turn 15 sliding off the track and giving up his second place to Marquez as his Repsol Honda teammate Pol Espargaro moved up into the podium. Like earlier in the season at Aragon it was again Pecco vs Marquez , this time the Ducati had a lot of speed that Marquez couldn’t keep up with as Pecco’s had a lot more pace towards lap 10 as he started opening a slight gap but with 5 laps remaining, he made a mistake in turn 15 which not only ended his race but also his World Championship hopes. This subsequently meant that Fabio Quartararo would finish on the podium but Bastianini overtook him in the last lap to get his second podium of the year.

Quartararo came into the race holding a 52 point lead over him as he just had to finish above him to win this year's World Championship. At the start of the race it looked like he had to wait for a few more races before he could celebrate his Championship as he had qualified 15th but in the end his closest rival crashed out for him to become the first rider from France to win a MotoGP World Championship. In doing so he became the first non Spanish rider since Casey Stoner when he won it in 2011 to win a MotoGP World Championship and to finally put an end to this Spanish domination. This was also a historic race for Valentino Rossi as he rode his final race at home and finished a respectable 10th place in the race. 

Fabio Quartararo after winning his first title said, “I still can't believe it! I can't even talk. It feels amazing. Maybe later I can talk a bit more. Right now, I'm living the dream! It feels good to also have my family with me, and we will enjoy this a lot tonight and until the end of the season Of course, this was not the way I wanted Pecco's weekend to end, but I'm happy he's okay. Now we are the World Champion. I have no words and I have no more liquid left in my body to cry. It feels so good, but I can't even describe what I'm feeling right now. To be on the podium with a big part of my family and my family from the circuit. I have no words.MotoGP has been going on for quite a long time. To be the first Frenchman to win it is amazing. I'm also happy for Yamaha. Since 2015 they haven't won a title, and today we won it again. It's an amazing feeling,” 

Marquez said: “This is a much more important victory than Austin. My target was to be on the podium here or in Portimao, on a ‘right’ circuit to finish the season. And we won. We won here in Misano where usually we are not strong and we had a race pace. When Pecco started to push, honestly speaking I said ok and I relaxed a bit but he crashed. Fortunately, he’s ok and we were able to take profit because he had the edge. We keep improving and this is the best way to finish the 2021 season as we prepare for 2022. When you look at the gap compared to the first race here, we’ve made a step. I also want to say a big congratulations to Fabio for his title, he has been incredible this year and he really deserves it. Today is his day but I look forward to fighting with him again next year".

Also read: MotoGP: Marc Marquez reclaims his COTA crown as he wins his seventh MotoGP race at the Circuit of Americas

Top 10:

1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
2. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 4.859
3. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) + 12.013
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 12.775
5. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 16.458
6. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 17.669
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 18.468
8. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 18.607
9. Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia) + 25.417
10. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 27.735