All's well that ends well. So goes the saying. But this time, for Fabio Quartararo, the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix Sprint didn't end well at all.
The French rider of the Yamaha Factory team, who started from 23rd place after the usual, difficult qualifying, thanks to a race made unpredictable by wet patches that betrayed several riders, had managed to climb up to the final third place, which he took home while holding holding off the latest attacks brought by a Dani Pedrosa who is still in great shape despite having limited himself to only making a few wildcards for a few years now.
At the end of the race, once the awards were given, the 2021 MotoGP world champion had the podium achieved at the Angel Nieto in Jerez de la Frontera revoked due to a tire irregularity.
His tire pressure was lower than the allowed limit and this, according to the regulations, led him to receive an 8-second penalty added to his overall race time.
All things considered, Quartararo lost not only the podium, but also fourth position, eventually finishing in fifth place overall behind Franco Morbidelli with the second Ducati at the finish line, also from the Pramac Racing team.
Dani Pedrosa thus returns to the podium at the age of 38, 6 years after his last full season in MotoGP as a regular rider and 7 years after his last podium in the premier class, which came at the 2017 Valencian Community Grand Prix. That, for moreover, it was also Pedrosa's last statement in MotoGP and the MotoGP.
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