MotoGP Spain: Marc Marquez closes in on title with Aragon victory as Jorge Lorenzo gets better of Valentino Rossi
Marquez extends his lead at the top of the championship to 52 points with four races remaining
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Your support makes all the difference.Marc Marquez took another step towards his third MotoGP world championship with victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at Aragon, securing his 54th win of his young career to equal Honda legend Mick Doohan’s tally.
The 23-year-old Spaniard heads into the final four races of the season with a 52-point buffer over Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi after clinching his fourth win of the season, adding to early victories in Argentina, the United States and Germany.
Compatriot Jorge Lorenzo took second to the delight of the home, with the usual partisan Rossi fans not quite a factor in Aragon as they are across the rest of the calendar. 37-year-old Rossi had to make do with third having seen a late attempt to pass his Yamaha teammate fail two laps from home when he ran wide into turn one.
Lorenzo had gotten the better of Marquez off the start, although when the two squabbled through the long turn two, Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales steamed through to take the lead with hopes of adding to his maiden MotoGP victory in Silverstone earlier this month well in his sights.
Along with Rossi, the four traded places throughout the opening three laps, with Marquez hitting the front only to come within a whisker of crashing out of the race. Carrying too much front brake into turn seven, he tucked the front of his Honda and quickly lifted the bike to avoid falling off, although he did drop down to fifth with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso also getting past.
While Rossi passed both Lorenzo and Vinales to take the lead, Marquez regrouped and began to close the gap to the pair in front. Lorenzo was soon overtaken by the recovering Marquez, who was promoted to second on lap 10 when Vinales ran wide at turn one and to drop back to third.
Marquez was making turn 15 his own as he repeatedly dived underneath opponents on the lefthander that leads out onto the long back straight, and he used the move to snatch the lead from Rossi with 11 laps remaining, before pulling clear of the nine-time world champion to cruise home.
"I started not so good but on the third lap I attacked because I know that my rhythm was better,” Marquez said afterwards. “But I did a mistake. When I was leading I nearly lost the front.
"When I overtook Valentino I pushed two laps and then when I saw the distance was quite enough I just tried to keep the rhythm. Rossi was gaining points and now we stop and this is good."
Results:
1 Marc Marquez (Spa) Honda 41mins 57.678secs
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 42:00.418
3 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 42:03.661
4 Maverick Vinales (Spa) Suzuki 42:05.916
5 Cal Crutchlow (Gbr) Honda 42:10.899
6 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 42:14.750
7 Aleix Espargaro (Spa) Suzuki 42:16.200
8 Pol Espargaro (Spa) Yamaha 42:17.110
9 Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Aprilia 42:20.749
10 Stefan Bradl (Ger) Aprilia 42:25.576.
Rossi was slipping back into the clutches of Lorenzo, who used a different set-up and a late switch to the rear hard tyre to pass his teammate five laps from home. He was unable to gap the Italian, but won the battle for second when Rossi’s late overtake attempt saw him run off the track and drop back enough to settle for the final step on the podium.
"We started with a different setting, but at the end I was spinning a lot," said Rossi.
"Two laps to go I did a mistake in braking and had to go wide, if not we could fight for second place. But anyway the podium is OK."
Vinales took fourth ahead of Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, who once again secured the best independent rider spot as well as fend off Honda Racing’s Dani Pedrosa for fifth with Aleix Espargaro taking seventh on the other Suzuki ahead of brother Pol Espargaro on the Tech 3 Yamaha.
Dovizioso suffered from heavy tyre wear, which saw the Ducati plummet from fourth to ninth, and he was passed by the Aprillias of Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl late on to drop out of the top 10 to cap a miserable day for the Italian manufacturer, with Michele Pirro coming home 11th after standing in for the injured Andrea Iannone while Pramac Ducati teammates Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci collided on opening lap, sending the Briton to the floor and Italian Petrucci to the pits for a ride-through penalty for causing the crash.
Earlier in the day, Britain’s Sam Lowes took victory in Moto2 to claim his second win of the season ahead of Marquez’s younger brother Alex, who just held off Estrella Galicia teammate Franco Morbidelli on the run to the line.
South African Brad Binder finished second in Moto3 to wrap-up the world championship with four races to spare, becoming the first South African world champion in any category in the process after finishing behind race winner Jorge Navarro.
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