Bagnaia absorbed massive pressure from Yamaha’s Quartararo in the closing stages of the 27-lap race at Misano as its soft rear tire faded and took back-to-back MotoGP victories in 2021.
Bagnaia made his start from pole position and immediately pulled away by a second on the first lap when Ducati team-mate Jack Miller jumped into second place in front of Quartararo.
In the first half of the race, Bagnaia was in control and extended his lead to well over two seconds – the Italian helped the Italian with mistakes for Miller and Quartararo in turn 13 on lap eight.
On lap nine, Bagnaia’s lead was just under three seconds, but here and there this gap steadily decreased by a few tenths.
Bagnaia opted for the soft rear tire while Quartararo opted for the middle one, and that choice seemed inspired as Miller’s pace slowed.
On lap 14 Quartararo fought his way into the left corner of Turn 6 on the fighting Miller, with the Frenchman reducing Bagnaia’s lead to 1.2 seconds with eight laps to go.
Behind them, Avintia rookie Bastianini started from position 12 and was fourth on lap six after driving past six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez’s Honda in the Quercia left-hand bend.
Bastianini drove the fastest laps when the middle distance race clicked.
Bastianini pushed past the back of the fighting Miller on his two-year-old Avintia run Desmosedici and drove through the right-hand bend at Turn 13 to third place.
At the front, Quartararo further reduced Bagnaia’s lead, the Ducati rider’s lead dropped to six tenths with three laps to go, while Quartararo increased the pressure.
Quartararo clearly had better grip than the Ducati in front, but Bagnaia was able to keep the Yamaha in check with the brute force of the GP21 on the straights.
This closed all opportunities for Quartararo to overtake on the final lap. Bagnaia stayed upright, taking his second MotoGP win of his career 0.364 seconds ahead of Yamaha’s Quartararo.
Bastianini’s attack on Quartararo eased in the final stages, but the Avintia rider was 5.4 seconds ahead of pursuer Marquez, claiming his first MotoGP podium and the second ever for the Avintia team.
Marquez was currently defending Suzuki’s Joan Mir and finished fourth, despite the latter having fallen behind Miller on the checkered flag due to a penalty for limiting the course.
Pol Espargaro finished seventh on the sister factory Honda ahead of his brother Aleix on Aprilia, with KTM’s Brad Binder and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami completing the top 10.
Ducati Wildcard Michele Pirro finished 11th in front of a battered Johann Zarco, who dropped the Pramac rider from fifth to 12th place on the checkered flag.
Maverick Vinales scored 13 points on his second Aprilia appearance, with Honda Wildcard Stefan Bradl and Alex Marquez from LCR completing the top 15.
Valentino Rossi bounced back from 23rd on the grid and finished 17th in his penultimate appearance in front of his avid home fans on the Petronas SRT Yamaha, while Tech 3’s Danilo Petrucci 1.1s finished in 16th.
Franco Morbidelli finished his first race as a Yamaha factory rider in 18th place ahead of Avintias Luca Marini and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira, while Andrea Dovizioso finished 21st in his first MotoGP appearance since Valencia last year.
Alex Rins crashed late in the battle for the top 4 on his Suzuki, with Iker Lecuona (Tech 3) and Jorge Martin (Pramac) also failing to finish.
Quartararo’s championship lead now stands at 48 points as Bagnaia took another five points from him and only had 100 more to win in 2021.
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