Marc Marquez has won the Spanish MotoGP ahead of Johann Zarco and Andrea Iannone, while a dramatic crash takes out Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
There was plenty to be excited about heading into today’s race with the 4th different pole sitter in 4 races after Cal Crutchlow put together a record breaking lap, As the lights went out it was Jorge Lorenzo who managed to get the hole-shot into turn 1 swiftly followed by the Repsol Honda duo and Johann Zarco.
In the opening stages it was a close pack from 1st down to 8th surprisingly both Ducati’s and the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi all in the leading back, Pole man Cal Crutchlow seemed to get stuck behind Zarco for the opening period but managed to put a move on the Tech 3 rider even if it was short lived after a accident at turn 1, ALex Rins also had a early fall at the fast turn 11 on lap 4.
Marquez took the lead from the impressive on-form Jorge Lorenzo on lap 7 with many thinking Marquez would check out which was not the case for several laps it was 2 Honda’s versus the 2 Ducati’s with a net being able to cover the top 4.
By lap 10 Marquez had just about started to get some daylight between himself and Jorge Lorenzo, but notably Andrea Dovizioso looked a lot faster than his team mate and was starting to look a little bit frustrated.
Marc Marquez put a stunning move on Dani Pedrosa into turn 11 the fast 120mph corner to take P2 on lap 3, not the most spectacular moment for Marquez between turns 11 and 12 after a crash on lap 11 from the Marc VDS Honda of Tom Luthi left gravel all over the frighteningly fast turn as Marquez turned in he spectacularly lost the back end but as has become normal Marquez’s stunning reflex’s kept him on the bike.
Lap 17 will probably be the most memorable lap, having already caused controversy in the lightweight class early in the day at turn 6 a frustrated Dovizioso flew down the inside of his team-mate , unfortunately running both himself a Lorenzo wide, as Lorenzo cam back across to square the corner off he found Dani Pedrosa on the line and bounced off of his compatriot, then dramatically he bounced into team-mate Dovizioso taking all 3 riders down and out of the race Dani Pedrosa unfortunately took a lot of height after the high-side and it is yet to be seen if he has re damaged his right wrist.
As the 3 riders dusted themselves down uncharacteristically Andrea Dovizioso was furious at Jorge Lorenzo gesticulating at the Spaniard suggesting he had been weaving, however race direction deemed it to be a racing incident and decided no further action would happen.
However this promoted Frenchman Johann Zarco up to second and Italian Andrea Iannone in 2nd and 3rd respectively, However Iannone did not have it all his own way as Alma Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci and Movistar Yamaha star Valentino Rossi was closing in on the final laps, Petrucci managed to get 3rd place but Iannone was having none of it fighting straight back through turn 5 with 3 laps left and holding of both of his compatriots.
Earlier in the race on lap 15 Valentino Rossi completed a race distance equivalent to the lap of the world with #VR46WorldLap trending on social media.
An impressive milestone for @ValeYellow46 ??#VR46WorldLap pic.twitter.com/KJzAofV7wk
— MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) May 6, 2018
With Andrea Dovizioso giving away big points to Marc Marquez just how much damaged has this caused to his championship campaign? With Marquez on the form he is could this be the moment we talk about come Valencia?
We look forward to seeing more drama unfold at Le Mans, France in 2 weeks time.
Full race results can be found here.
Featured Image Credit: Motogp.com events gallery
