2021 MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – how to watch, session times & more

After a three-week break following the Americas MotoGP in Austin, Fabio Quartararo will have his first opportunity to clinch a maiden world title given his 52-point lead going into the Emilia Romagna GP over Francesco Bagnaia.

Put simply, if the Yamaha rider finishes the second Misano round with a championship lead of 51 points or better he will seal the MotoGP world title with two rounds to spare.

Here are the detailed title permutations for Quartararo at the Emilia Romagna GP. Quartararo will be MotoGP world champion in Misano if:

• He wins the race
• He finishes 2nd and Bagnaia doesn’t win
• He finishes 3rd and Bagnaia doesn’t finish on the podium
• He finishes 4th or 5th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 4th
• He finishes 6th or 7th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 5th
• He finishes 8th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 6th
• He finishes 9th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 7th
• He finishes 10th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 8th
• He finishes 11th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 9th
• He finishes 12th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 10th
• He finishes 13th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 11th
• He finishes 14th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 12th
• He finishes 15th and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 13th
• He fails to score and Bagnaia doesn’t finish better than 14th

With his title chances very slim with three races to go, Bagnaia says he won’t opt for risky moves to keep his world championship hopes alive as he heads back to a circuit where he won just five weeks ago. 

After the Americas MotoGP round, series bosses have confirmed the 2022 calendar, with 21 races in place set to make it the longest-ever campaign. 

The Emilia Romagna GP will also mark Valentino Rossi’s final race on home soil before he retires, on what is expected to be an emotional weekend with Saturday marking the 10th anniversary of Marco Simoncelli’s death.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, leads at the start

Photo by: Dorna

Why is it called the Emilia Romagna GP?

With races not allowed to be given the same race names in the same MotoGP world championship season, Misano’s second race of the season has been called the Emilia Romagna GP, named after the region of Italy the circuit is located in. The name was also used last year as part of the Misano double-header.

It takes inspiration from the other double-headers MotoGP put on both in 2020 and this year as part of the reshuffled calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this season Qatar hosted the first-ever Doha GP as the second leg of its back-to-back races and the Red Bull Ring hosted the Styrian GP as its second part of its double-header.

Portimao will hold the Algarve GP next month having already hosted the Portuguese GP earlier this season in April.

Why is MotoGP holding two races at Misano?

As part of the COVID-19-hit campaign, the 2021 MotoGP calendar has been tweaked due to various travel restrictions in place across the world. The Finnish, Japanese, Thai, Australian, Malaysian and Argentina MotoGP rounds have all been cancelled for 2021.

In order to bulk out the calendar, Losail, the Red Bull Ring, Misano and Portimao will all host two races.

Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2021 Emilia Romagna MotoGP session timings

MotoGP will run its standard schedule across the Emilia Romagna GP weekend, with two practice sessions on Friday that will run for 45 minutes each. On Saturday third practice will also run for 45 minutes, with the top 10 on the combined FP1-2-3 timesheet automatically entering into Q2 of qualifying. A final 30-minute FP4 session is held on Saturday afternoon ahead of qualifying.

Q1 of qualifying sees all riders who did not finish in the top 10 of the combined practice times take part, with the top two finishers progressing into Q2 alongside the top 10 who gained an automatic spot via their practice times.

Q2 is the pole position shootout which decides the order of the front four rows, with the rest of the grid organised on Q1 times, for the Emilia Romagna GP on Sunday.

Moto2 and Moto3 are also in action during the Emilia Romagna GP.

Friday 22nd October 2021

Free Practice 1: 8:55am-9:40am BST (9:55am-10:40am local)

Free Practice 2: 1:10pm-1:55pm BST (2:10pm-2:55pm local)

Saturday 23rd October 2021

Free Practice 3: 8:55am-9:40am BST (9:55am-10:40am local)

Free Practice 4: 12:30pm-1:00pm BST (1:30pm-2:00pm local)

Qualifying: 1:10pm-1:50pm BST (2:10pm-2:50pm local)

Sunday 24th October 2021

Warm Up: 8:40am-9:00am BST (9:40am-10:00am local)

Race: 1:00pm BST (2:00pm local)

Valentino Rossi, Petronas Yamaha SRT, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Dorna

How can I watch the Emilia Romagna MotoGP?

• Channel: BT Sport 2
• Channel numbers: Sky – 414 (BT Sport 2)
• Channel numbers: Virgin Media – 528 (BT Sport 2)

BT Sport’s live coverage of Sunday’s action starts with the warm-up sessions at 7:30am BST, taken from the world feed, before switching to its own broadcast at 9:15am BST for the pre-race show ahead of the Moto3 race.

The build-up to the MotoGP race starts from 12:30pm, or when the Moto2 race finishes, ahead of lights out at 1:00pm.

Can I stream the Emilia Romagna MotoGP?

Viewers in the United Kingdom can also stream the Emilia Romagna GP by purchasing a video pass from MotoGP.com. A one-off video pass, for the remainder of the 2021 MotoGP season, costs £25.27p.

The video pass gives access to every live session, qualifying and race, plus world feed content and the chance to watch previous races.

Weather forecast for the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano

Misano is set for settled but cold conditions throughout the race weekend, with rain showers on Friday but dry weather on Saturday and Sunday. Highs of 16 degrees Celsius are forecast on race day, which is 14 degrees colder than the Americas GP and nine degrees colder than the San Marino GP at Misano five weeks ago.