(Motorsports news) After a heartbreaking late race crash at Misano, Ducati's Pecco Bagnaia came back in fine style at the penultimate race of the season to win the Algarve GP in Portimao. Suzuki’s Joan Mir finished in second with Pecco’s teammate Jack Miller finishing a closely fought third position. With only the last race remaining at Valencia, the Constructor Championship and the top three positions in the riders standings got sealed. The Constructors Championship was eventually won by Ducati as they managed to take top over Yamaha.
Pecco settled for his 5th consecutive pole position as his teammate Jack Miller started second on the grid followed by Joan Mir. The start was not great for Pecco, his teammate propelled his GP21 off the line very well and grabbed the holeshot into the first turn, but the Aussie was slightly wide which allowed Bagnaia through, lap 1 also saw Mir pass Miller. Pecco and Mir started showing as they opened a one second lead over Miller in third but by lap 7 Bagnaia was in a class of his own, he put the hammer down and opened a gap over the former champion. With Pecco’s lead stretching an intense battle for the podium between Mir, Miller and Alex Marquez took place, with Mir pulling away from these two in the last few laps, the place for the final podium spot between Miller and Marquez was unfolding, however the last lap didn't arrive as Lecuona and Oliveira were involved in a heavy crash at turn 13 which brought the red flags and abruptly ended the race.
With this victory Pecco Bagania and Joan Mir secured second and third place respectively in the riders standings, Ducati won the Constructors Championship with 332 points as they won their second constructors title in a row and third Constructors title in MotoGP. With World Champion Fabio Quartararo crashing it meant that Yamaha couldn’t do the double this year, next season with Morbidelli in the bike Yamaha will be hoping to win their first constructor championship since 2015.
Speaking after the race, Bagnaia said: "I’m very happy because I think it’s my best weekend in MotoGP. Also, I enjoyed every single session this weekend. "When you feel so great with your bike everything comes more easily to you. I’m very happy with the work done.Compared to April when I finished second, I was feeling more competitive this time around. This race was more difficult at the start because with the front tyre I was struggling a bit more compared to other races, so I was trying to push but every time I was leaning on the left I was feeling that the left was closing. But then everything came better and better in the next laps, so I’m very happy for this win."I sincerely think I’m the same in Misano. I was doing the same race, I was doing the same pushing like Misano and there I was more unlucky because I crashed,"
Bagnaia added by saying, “Maybe today it's because I wasn’t with the hard front [jokes Bagnaia]; Mir cuts in and says ‘I hoped you used the hard’ [smiles], but sincerely I didn’t change it. In Misano I was just trying to open up the championship, but I already knew that it was very difficult to win if I won in Misano then for sure Quartararo would not crash today. So it’s okay like this. I was racing without pressure in the championship, so I just did the same thing today."
Top 10:
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team)
2. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 2.478
3. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 6.402
4. Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) + 6.453
5. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 7.882
6. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 9.573
7. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) + 10.144
8. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 10.742
9. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) + 13.840
10. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 14.487
