MotoGP Round 13 Recap: Mayhem In Misano

Writer's note: in order to fit everything into my day, I've only watched the MotoGP race thus far, hence the shortness of the report. All tables from MotoGP.com. Sorry in advance, we'll be back on usual service for Aragon.

MotoGP

The rain fell pretty much from the lights going out. The backrunners all came in at roughly the same time on lap six, around the same time as Scott Redding took a tumble from fifth. Jorge Lorenzo was leading at this point, making a great changeover from dry to wet setup to just keep hold of the lead from Marc Marquez, at least until the Honda took the lead on the outlap. Andrea Dovizioso, Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow stayed out an extra lap, briefly holding the lead.

Marquez surrendered the lead on lap nine, running wide into a slow corner and allowing Lorenzo through. Yonny Hernandez and Alex De Angelis crashed out of 15th and 16th later in the lap, Hernandez losing the front end and collecting De Angelis. Valentino Rossi, initially slow on the wet tyres, began to quickly close down the front two, Lorenzo unable to get much speed and Marquez not able to get past him. At this point, it became clear that Smith had stayed out during the rain on his slick tyre, taking a big gamble on the heavy rain staying off - a gamble that looked to be paying off.

Loris Baz, Redding and Jack Miller were the first to switch back to slicks, with instant improvements in their lap times. Danilo Petrucci was showing well again in fourth. Marquez came in to change, trying to cover off the Yamahas who stayed out against team orders. Lorenzo came in three laps later, probably ruining his decision. Smith had gone from 21st to third, Baz was up to fourth and Redding to fifth. Rossi was in the next lap, losing the advantage instantly to Marquez. Shortly after, Lorenzo went down at huge speed, throwing away a huge opportunity to make inroads on Rossi's lead. Smith was up to second, with Baz, BAZ, in third. Redding was closing quickly though, and took third away from the open class Frenchman with four laps left.

Marquez took the flag for his fourth win of the year, finishing well ahead of Smith in second, Redding's third bringing the first time two Brits had finished on the podium since 1979.

Moto2

A crash between Dominique Aegerter and Alex Rins handed Johann Zarco yet another victory in the Honda class, crossing the line nearly four seconds ahead of Tito Rabat in second. Takaaki Nakagami nearly lost his tyres at the end of the race, but managed to hold on to third for his first podium finish. Non-finishers included Rins, Sam Lowes, Mika Kallio (who post-race terminated his contract with Italtrans) and Alex Marquez.

Moto3

Enea Bastianini will not give up. Another win for the battling Italian, ahead of the Moto2 Leopard-bound Miguel Oliveira. Niccolo Antonelli completed the podium, with championship leader Danny Kent down in sixth.

Standings

MotoGP

Advantage Rossi. He now holds a 23 point lead ahead of Lorenzo. Marquez reduces the gap from him to Rossi to 63 points, but it looks too little too late. Smith returns to the top five, while Baz's fourth place gives him the open class lead.

Moto2

Zarco's 93 point lead means he can take the title at Aragon. Everything else is irrelevant really.

Moto3

Only Bastianini is going to realistically stop Kent, but a 55 point lead can disappear in two races, easily. If Kent manages to keep the bike on the tarmac though, it's as good as his.

Next Time Out

We might have a championship celebration at the Aragon circuit. We'll have proper full coverage, so join us then.