KTM Makes A Surprise, Oliveira Wins The Catalunya GP

JAKARTA - Miguel Oliveira made a surprise by appearing dominant in order to bring KTM to win at the Catalunya Grand Prix.

Oliveira took his first win, also for KTM, of the season after finishing 0.175 seconds ahead of Pramac Racing's Johann Zarco in the 24 lap race.

Jack Miller led Ducati to complete the podium after Fabio Quartararo was awarded an additional three seconds of penalty for having a problem with his race shirt, according to the official MotoGP website.

"I'm speechless. This is probably one of the best races I've ever experienced," said Oliveira.

With his fourth podium of the season, Zarco has a total of 101 points, closing his gap on Quartararo who is still 17 points clear at the top of the table after seven races.

Meanwhile, Miller moved up to third place with 90 points, shifting his teammate, Francesco Bagnaia to fourth place with a margin of two points.

From P2 Miller stole the race leader position from Quartararo who started from pole after Turn 1 of the opening lap. Oliveira also poked into P2, shifting Quartararo to P3, before taking the lead from Miller who made a mistake on lap 2.

Quartararo went too deep into Turn 7 to go wide and clear the way for Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaro.

With Oliveira nearly a second ahead of his nearest rival, Quartararo tried to find a rhythm and managed to get past his rivals to return to P2 and close his gap on the KTM rider in front of him.

Leading by a fraction of a second each lap, El Diablo had the chance to overtake Oliveira on lap 12 and restore his position as race leader.

Oliveira has been competitive all weekend thanks to the new chassis that KTM has brought since Mugello last week where he finished runner-up.

The Portuguese rider did not want to wait until the end of the race and again stole Quartararo's position on the main straight.

In the last ten laps the Ducatis started their attack as Johann Zarco and Jack Miller overtook Mir to fight for the podium.

Quartararo was not fast enough to catch Oliveira and was even threatened by the two Ducatis behind him.

Zarco managed to overtake his compatriot with three laps to go as Quartararo had problems with his racing suit. Footage shows Quartararo throwing off his breastplate in the middle of the race.

Oliveira was able to withstand Zarco's attack on the final lap to become the first to cross the finish line and claim the third win of his career in front of a crowd of 24,000 watching live in Catalunya.

Quartararo finished third, but was awarded an additional three-second penalty for racing in an open race suit that earned Miller a podium finish for P3.

Joan Mir secured points for Suzuki in P5, beating Maverick Vinales, who has a new crew chief, and Francesco Bagnaia.

Brad Binder added to KTM's lead in P8, as Franco Morbidelli and rookie Enea Bastianini round out the top ten.

Valentino Rossi was actually in the points zone but failed to finish the race due to a fall, as did Marc Marquez who kissed the gravel for the third time in the last three races.

Alex Rins missed the race in his hometown after suffering an accident while training on a bicycle on Thursday and had to undergo surgery in Barcelona on Friday morning.

Rookie Jorge Martin returned to racing this weekend having missed recovering from an injury following the crash at Portimao, but the Spaniard suffered a highside on his way to the grid ahead of the start and had to rush back to the garage to change bikes and had to start from the very back.

Catalunya GP results

1 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM (RC16) 40:21.749

2 Johann Zarco Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.175

3 Jack Miller Ducati Team (GP21) +1,990

4 Fabio Quartararo Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +4,815

5 Joan Mir Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +5,325

6 Maverick Viñales Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +6,281

7 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Team (GP21) +8,175

8 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM (RC16) +8,378

9 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +15,652

10 Enea Bastianini Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +19,297

11 Alex Marquez LCR Honda (RC213V) +21,650

12 Luca Marini Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +22,533

13 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda (RC213V) +27,833

14 Jorge Martin Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +29,075

15 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* +40,291

Iker Lecuona KTM Tech3 (RC16) DNF

Valentino Rossi Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) DNF

Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF

Marc Marquez Repsol Honda (RC213V) DNF

Danilo Petrucci KTM Tech3 (RC16) DNF

Pol Espargaro Repsol Honda (RC213V) DNF

* Rookies.