Two laps left in Aragon. It was an exact copy and paste at Turn 5, Marquez again lunging late, but there was no way through. The exact same thing happened on the same lap at Turn 15, but again, Bagnaia carved back past. Then it was time for an epic final lap. Marquez tried his luck at Turn 1 this time, but it didn’t stick. Turn 5 then reared its head and for the third lap in a row, Marquez was up the inside, before Pecco fought back.

That was six overtakes that hadn’t stuck for the eight-time Champion, a seventh attempt then came at Turn 12. Marquez got a great run out of the Marc Marquez Corner and was up the inside at the downhill left-hander. Struggling to get it hooked up to the apex, Marquez was wide and onto the green turf, which allowed Pecco to hold P1. With Marquez as wide as he was, it was battle won for Pecco. Ducati’s star made no mistake and crossed the line to complete a perfect weekend: pole position to maiden MotoGP™ victory, the eighth winner of 2021.

0.6s split the top two in the end, Marquez threw everything in his locker to try and win for the seventh time in Aragon, but the number 93 was happy with P2. Mir returns to the rostrum for the first time since the Styrian GP, that’s his fifth rostrum of 2021. Aleix Espargaro couldn’t hold onto the reigns of Mir in the closing stages, but a P4 is another excellent ride from the Spaniard. Miller couldn’t recover from his mistake and finished a lonely fifth, as reigning Moto2™ World Champion Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) claims sixth for his best premier class result. The impressive rookie beat Binder by 0.3s, and 2.5s behind the South African was Quartararo. A tricky day at the office for the World Championship leader, his second worst result of the season, but his lead is still a healthy 53 points with five races to go.