Bastianini holds his nerve for sensational maiden win, Bagnaia takes out Martin

Enea Bastianini holds off Brad Binder to claim a sensational maiden MotoGP win in Qatar, while fellow Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin crash out after contact at turn one. 

For all the hype regarding their starts in 2021, very much deserved I might add, Martin and Bastianini got a shocking launch off the line while Marc Marquez and Pol Esaprgaro made it a Repsol Honda 1-2 heading into turn one. 

Making up the top three on the exit of turn one was Binder, who also made a stunning getaway from P7 aboard his KTM RC16 machine. 

Another fast starter was Suzuki’s Joan Mir as the 2020 world champion made up four places over the course of laps one and two. 

However, Mir’s progress soon slowed once behind the two Hondas and Binder who were controlling the pace out in front.  

With things looking relatively settled, a change for second place came at the beginning of lap six as Marquez ran wide at turn one, allowing Binder to come through. 

Marquez was then shuffled down to P4 as Bastianini began to make his way back towards the front. Bastianini’s move on Marquez came just a few corners after getting past Mir. 

Laps eight and nine saw back-to-back retirements as Jack Miller made his way down pit lane due to an issue with his factory Ducati, while Marco Bezzecchi crashed at turn 16. 

Alex Marquez was the next rider to suffer a fall as turn one claimed the LCR Honda rider. Just a few moments later and it was Miguel Oliveira who was next to fall victim at turn one as he suffered a front end crash like Marquez. 

At the front, the top four of P. Espargaro, Binder, Bastianini and Marquez began to pull clear, as A. Espargaro made his way through on Mir for fifth. 

A race-defining incident then came with 11 laps to go as a coming together between Francesco Bagnaia and Martin led to both riders crashing out.

Bagnaia, who was making a move into turn one, lost the front which led to him wiping out the pole sitter. 

At the start of lap 14 Bastianini made his way past Binder as the South African started to lose significant ground on P. Espargaro. 

Despite maintaining a very quick pace at the front, Espargaro’s lead was reduced to under one second for the first time in four laps as Bastianini began closing in with seven to go. 

A nine tenth lead was then reduced to six in the space of one lap as Bastianini could see a first MotoGP win up ahead. 

Bastianini’s next lap round, lap 18 of 22 was a new fastest lap of the race before an inevitable change for the lead came on lap 19. 

Bastianini used the Ducati’s incredible top speed to get ahead before the start-finish line before Espargaro made a huge mistake on the brakes. 

Espargaro seemed to get affected by the dirty air of Bastianini’s bike and ran off-track which allowed Binder through. 

The final two laps saw Binder break clear of Espargaro and begin to reel in Bastianini, however, the second-year MotoGP rider held on in brilliant fashion to win by three tenths. 

P. Espargaro managed to hold off his brother Aleix for third, while Marquez came across the line in a subdued P5 - seven tenths ahead of Mir. 

Rounding out the top ten were Rins, Zarco who pipped Quartararo over the line, and Takaaki Nakagami in tenth respectively.