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An oil spillage led to a delay in the start of proceedings, pushing back the start of Moto3 until 12:15 local time.
Moto3
Moto3 First Five Rows | |||
---|---|---|---|
Row 1 | Philipp OETTL | ||
Jorge NAVARRO | |||
Enea BASTIANINI | |||
Row 2 | Jakub KORNFEIL | ||
Romano FENATI | |||
Adam NORRODIN | |||
Row 3 | Andrea LOCATELLI | ||
Jules DANILO | |||
Fabio QUARTARARO | |||
Row 4 | Livio LOI | ||
Nicolo BULEGA | |||
Brad BINDER | |||
Row 5 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | ||
Juanfran GUEVARA | |||
Alexis MASBOU |
Niccolo Antonelli qualified a lowly 30th, with the racewinner from last time, Khairul Pawi, two places further back. Philipp Oettl started from pole for the first time.
He didn't start too well though, with Jorge Navarro taking the early lead. Oettl had a battle on fending off Romano Fenati for second. Adam Norrodin was taken out by Hiroki Ono on lap two (with Ono later receiving a drive through penalty), with Brad Binder starting well to rise to fourth. Navarro had a good early lead, though, opening up a gap of over a second to the chasing pack.
Binder dragged a few people along with him, notably Fabio Quartararo on the Leopard KTM, and they settled into a good battle for fourth. Behind them, Enea Bastianini and Jakub Kornfeil were having a similar tussle. At the front, Navarro was seeing the gap slowly come down, with Fenati - having passed Oettl - chasing him. Joan Mir and Darryn Binder clashed when Mir went up the inside at the turn one hairpin a bit too optimistically and Binder shut the door a bit too firmly shut. Jorge Martin crashed out while running midfield. Antonelli, on the other hand, was having a stormer, rising to 13th after his lowly start.
Off-camera, Fenati closed the gap and took the lead, making the most of Navarro running wide at turn one to nip inside. A few laps later, Quartararo had closed down Oettl and took third from him. Fenati was away though, opening a 2.8 second gap up to Navarro.
The best battle on track was for seventh, Aron Canet dragging Bastianini and Antonelli with him, trading places at every turn. Quartararo seemed to suffer something mechanical problem, losing third but not stopping him from carrying on - albeit very slowly. Soon after, Antonelli destroyed his great ride, crashing from seventh with two laps left.
Fenati took the win comfortably in the end, with Navarro a distant second. Binder pipped Oettl for third on the last lap to retain the championship lead. Quartararo kept running to take 13th, and three points.
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 5 | Romano FENATI | ITA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 144.3 | 41'14.868 |
2 | 20 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | Honda | 143.9 | 6.612 |
3 | 16 | 41 | Brad BINDER | RSA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 143.7 | 10.535 |
4 | 13 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | GER | Schedl GP Racing | KTM | 143.7 | 10.975 |
5 | 11 | 55 | Andrea LOCATELLI | ITA | Leopard Racing | KTM | 143.5 | 13.845 |
6 | 10 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | ITA | Gresini Racing Moto3 | Honda | 143.5 | 14.123 |
7 | 9 | 44 | Aron CANET | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | Honda | 143.4 | 16.309 |
8 | 8 | 11 | Livio LOI | BEL | RW Racing GP BV | Honda | 143 | 21.841 |
9 | 7 | 60 | Jules DANILO | FRA | Ongetta-Rivacold | Honda | 143 | 22.004 |
10 | 6 | 8 | Nicolo BULEGA | ITA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 143 | 22.351 |
11 | 5 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | CZE | Drive M7 SIC Racing Team | Honda | 143 | 22.714 |
12 | 4 | 58 | Juanfran GUEVARA | SPA | RBA Racing Team | KTM | 143 | 22.764 |
13 | 3 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | FRA | Leopard Racing | KTM | 142.8 | 26.024 |
14 | 2 | 21 | Francesco BAGNAIA | ITA | ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3 | Mahindra | 142.7 | 28.161 |
15 | 1 | 16 | Andrea MIGNO | ITA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 142.7 | 28.259 |
Moto2
Moto2 First Five Rows | |||
---|---|---|---|
Row 1 | Alex RINS | ||
Johann ZARCO | |||
Sam LOWES | |||
Row 2 | Dominique AEGERTER | ||
Thomas LUTHI | |||
Takaaki NAKAGAMI | |||
Row 3 | Jonas FOLGER | ||
Simone CORSI | |||
Franco MORBIDELLI | |||
Row 4 | Sandro CORTESE | ||
Julian SIMON | |||
Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | |||
Row 5 | Marcel SCHROTTER | ||
Luis SALOM | |||
Axel PONS |
Efren Vasquez missed the race after a huge crash in qualifying which red flagged the session - he suffered a bad leg injury while also needing a CT scan after taking a huge bump on the head.
Dominique Aegerter made the best start from fourth, taking the lead before turn one. Sam Lowes ran wide but it only cost him one place. Aegerter quickly lost the lead, with polesitter Alex Rins and Johann Zarco reclaiming their starting positions. Lowes picked off Aegerter on lap two, while Rins tore off at the front. Lowes took second from Zarco soon after, two great passes in quick succession. Jonas Folger made a good start from the third row and was up to fourth by the end of lap two.
Lorenzo Baldassarri's nightmare start to the season continued, as he and Axel Pons both made jump starts.
Lowes was catching Rins fast, closing a 1.5 second gap down to 0.5 seconds in a lap and a half. The Brit looked on a mission, as did Folger, who made a couple of attempts at taking third from the slow Zarco but running wide both times. Tom Luthi joined the battle for third, around the same time that Luca Marini took out Robin Mulhauser. Danny Kent retired with something gear-related.
Aegerter finally made a move on Zarco stick for third, with his team mate Luthi briefly following him through before Zarco took the place back. Simone Corsi brought himself into the battle too, but was involved with a tussle with Takaaki Nakagami and Folger. At the front, Rins had a consistent gap of 0.4 to Lowes, but he certainly wasn't losing Lowes at all. The battle between third and eighth was where the action was, with lots of overtakes and mettle-tests in braking zones.
With four laps left, Zarco had taken back third with help from some questionable moves by Nakagami, who was then knocked out by Corsi at turn one. Rins looked like he finally had the beating of Lowes, opening up a gap of over a second. The battle behind meant that Zarco looked set in third, but it was still anyone's guess for fourth to seventh. Luthi found himself drop from fourth to seventh in a lap while Folger kept Corsi at bay.
Rins took the win, with Lowes very happy in second. Zarco was eventually a comfortable third, with Aegerter winning the battle for fourth.
Sam Lowes leads the championship. Excited fanboying over here.
Fun point before MotoGP - it started to spit with rain at the end of Moto2.
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 40 | Alex RINS | SPA | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | Kalex | 151.9 | 41'22.174 |
2 | 20 | 22 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | 151.7 | 2.091 |
3 | 16 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | Ajo Motorsport | Kalex | 151.4 | 7.737 |
4 | 13 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | SWI | CarXpert Interwetten | Kalex | 151.3 | 8.646 |
5 | 11 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 151.3 | 8.791 |
6 | 10 | 24 | Simone CORSI | ITA | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up | 151.2 | 11.083 |
7 | 9 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | Garage Plus Interwetten | Kalex | 151.2 | 11.278 |
8 | 8 | 19 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 150.8 | 17.933 |
9 | 7 | 60 | Julian SIMON | SPA | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 150.7 | 18.718 |
10 | 6 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | AGR Team | Kalex | 150.7 | 19.408 |
11 | 5 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 150.5 | 22.173 |
12 | 4 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 150.4 | 23.898 |
13 | 3 | 39 | Luis SALOM | SPA | SAG Team | Kalex | 150.3 | 25.395 |
14 | 2 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | ITA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 150.2 | 26.883 |
15 | 1 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 150.2 | 27.598 |
MotoGP
MotoGP First Five Rows | |||
---|---|---|---|
Row 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | ||
Jorge LORENZO | |||
Valentino ROSSI | |||
Row 2 | Maverick VIÑALES | ||
Cal CRUTCHLOW | |||
Andrea DOVIZIOSO | |||
Row 3 | Andrea IANNONE* | ||
Dani PEDROSA | |||
Aleix ESPARGARO | |||
Row 4 | Scott REDDING | ||
Bradley SMITH | |||
Loris BAZ | |||
Row 5 | Pol ESPARGARO | ||
Hector BARBERA | |||
Eugene LAVERTY |
Andrea Iannone qualified fourth, but was demoted three places due to the accident he caused in Argentina. Jack Miller had a crash in FP2 which ruled him out of the race. Michele Pirro continued his substitute stint for Danilo Petrucci.
The rain held off, meaning a dry race.
Marquez made a good start from pole, but Lorenzo made a better, leading into turn one but running wide to lose it again. Lorenzo made the same move again later in the lap, but ran wide and fell to fourth. Valentino Rossi made a good start, but made a mistake to drop to sixth. Aleix Espargaro had his big boy leathers on, climbing to fourth by the end of lap one, including a block pass on Rossi of all people. Andrea Dovizioso started brightly though, sitting in second and keeping close to the back of Marquez. Loris Baz was an early faller, but he got back on.
Lap two, Rossi crashed out, the bike disappearing from under him. At the front, Marquez did what he does in America and was away. A good fight was developing between seventh and tenth, Scott Redding and Maverick Viñales fighting that out, with Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith behind them. Lorenzo took second from a labouring Dovi, Dani Pedrosa looking interested on the back of him too.
Maverick put paid to Redding while Andrea Iannone took fifth from Aleix. In front of them, Pedrosa got keen. Very keen. Too keen, hitting a bump, losing the front end and taking out Dovi. Dovi cannot catch a break. Later in the lap, Crutchlow was on the back of Redding...until he lost the bike too, followed very closely by Smith. Crutchlow, Smith and Pedrosa carried on, but Dovi was unable.
At the business end, the Suzukis started to battle. Maverick was keeping Aleix very honest, all the while with Redding closing in on the pair of them. Maverick took fourth after a really good two-lap battle. All the crashes promoted Pol Espargaro to seventh, Hector Barbera to eighth, Pirro to ninth and Stefan Bradl's Aprilia to tenth. Pedrosa decided honour was the best part of valour and retired from 17th. To his credit, he went straight to the Ducati garage to apologise to Dovi.
The rest of the race was fairly uniform. Marquez won at a canter, Lorenzo was comfortably second, Iannone had a sensible race to third, Maverick had the beating of Aleix for fourth, and Scott Redding finished top independent in sixth. Eugene Laverty got another good points finish in 12th.
Poor Dovi.
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 157.9 | 43'57.945 |
2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 157.6 | 6.107 |
3 | 16 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 157.3 | 10.947 |
4 | 13 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 156.8 | 18.422 |
5 | 11 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 156.7 | 20.711 |
6 | 10 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 156.2 | 28.961 |
7 | 9 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 156 | 32.112 |
8 | 8 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 156 | 32.757 |
9 | 7 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 155.9 | 34.592 |
10 | 6 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 155.6 | 40.211 |
11 | 5 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 155.3 | 45.423 |
12 | 4 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 155.2 | 47.127 |
13 | 3 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 155.2 | 47.426 |
14 | 2 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 154.9 | 51.19 |
15 | 1 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 153.7 | +1'12.929 |
Burnt Rubber will round the weekend up tomorrow, check back with us then.