The calendar goes back to Spain once again at Barcelona for this year’s race at the “Circuit de Barcelona-Cataluya”.  As this race could be critical for the championship aspirations from some riders involved.

Lights turn off and race begun with Franco Morbidelli holding the lead ahead of Jack Miller, Valentino Rossi and Fabio Quartararo; With the Yamahas getting ahead of the Pramac Ducati on just a few laps. Viñales had another disastrous start and was pretty much behind the top 10 the whole race. But it was worse for Dovi, who ended his race after he couldn’t avoid the incident with Johann Zarco. Losing the lead at the championship

Laps passed by and the 3 Yamahas were looking strong, as only Miller was the only quite close to them and Joan Mir who was some seconds behind the group. There was some action from 6th to 11th, as Bagnaia, Petrucci, Nakagami, Pol Espargaro, Binder and Oliveira were on constant chasing.

At lap 10 of the race, Quartararo made a move on his teammate Morbidelli and took the lead. making  a provisional Yamaha podium meanwhile Rossi was still 3rd. But after some laps, things would change

The first mayor event was Morbidelli having a braking problem at the turn 1, having him demoted to 2nd place, meanwhile at back, Pol Espargaro went to the gravel at the same turn and eventually the big shocker, Valentino Rossi lose control at the turn 2 and loses a potential podium finish a hard hit on the championship aspirations.

As the Yamaha riders were having issues, the Suzuki riders emerged from the shadows. Both Joan Mir and Alex Rins started to improve the pace as the race was coming to an end; while Mir was getting closer to Morbidelli for a 2nd place and Rins got away from the second group and was hunting Jack Miller, with him eventually passing him as the Ducati went wide on turn 9.

At the last laps. The Suzuki riders keep up the strong pace and both Mir and Rins made a move on Franco Morbidelli. As the riders were even chasing Quartararo, as the gap got closed from +2.8 to +1.2 seconds in just a matter of laps, but it wasn’t enough. As the French rider got away with his 3rd win of the season and as a new leader of the championship. Both Suzuki riders closed a remarkable double podium finish, their first time since Misano 2007.

Race Results:

1. Fabio Quartararo /// 2. Joan Mir /// 3. Alex Rins
4. Franco Morbidelli /// 5. Jack Miller /// 6. Francesco Bagnaia
7. Takaaki Nakagami /// 8. Danilo Petrucci /// 9. Maverick Viñales
10. Cal Crutchlow /// 11. Brad Binder /// 12. Aleix Espargaro
13. Alex Marquez /// 14. Iker Lecuona /// 15. Tito Rabat
16. Bradley Smith /// 17. Stefan Bradl

DNF: Miguel Oliveira, Valentino Rossi, Pol Espargaro, Johann Zarco, Andrea Dovizioso

Strong result for Quartararo, who returns to lead the championship as the less races are left on the calendar. Meanwhile Joan Mir also got a great result, with his 2nd place being only 8 points behind the Quartararo at the standings. We’ll see on 2 weeks if Fabio can extend the leadership, as the calendar goes to his home country; For this year’s French GP.