Jorge Lorenzo eased to his third consecutive victory of the season at the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, as he reduced the deficit to Valentino Rossi to just six points in the championship.
The Spaniard made a low key start to the season but has turned the season on his head since May’s Spaniard Grand Prix at Jerez. With Valentino Rossi also in top form, an emphatic battle between Yamaha duo is on the cards.
Meanwhile, Honda’s Marc Marquez crashed out from the race and saw his championship challenge taking a serious dent. An emphatic start had catapulted Marquez into fourth place by end of lap 1, and the 22 year soon reeled in Dovizioso and Iannone for second place. However, instead of posing a challenge on runaway leader Lorenzo, Marquez got embroiled in a thrilling scrap with the Ducatis which ended with Marquez retiring for the second time this season.
This allowed Iannone to take his career best finish of second ahead of a charging Valentino Rossi who completed the podium for Yamaha. Dani Pedrosa finished three seconds behind in fourth, ahead of Tech3 bikes of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro.
Andrea Dovizioso was in running for a podium spot until a mechanical problem forced him to park his Ducati in the garage.
MotoGP Results - Top 10
- Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 41m39.173s
- Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 41m44.736s
- Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 41m45.834s
- Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 41m49.151s
- Bradley Smith (Tech 3) 41m54.457s
- Pol Espargaro (Tech 3) 41m54.838s
- Maverick Viñales (Suzuki) 42m2.978s
- Michele Pirro (Ducati) 42m8.325s
- Danilo Petrucci (Pramac) 42m11.181s
- Yonny Hernandez (Pramac) 42m13.744s
Moto2: Rabat takes first victory of season ahead of Zarco
In Moto2 class, defending world championship Tito Rabat took his first victory of the season at Mugello, ahead of standings leader Johann Zarco.
Rabat passed Dominique Aegerter on lap seven to take lead of the race and held on to his position despite a late challenge from Zarco. The result sees him move to second place in the championship.
Moto2 Results - Top 10
- Tito Rabat Marc VDS (Kalex) 39m40.545s
- Johann Zarco Ajo Motorsport (Kalex) 39m40.853s
- Dominique Aegerter Technomag Racing Interwetten (Kalex) 39m45.825s
- Sam Lowes Speed Up Racing (Speed Up) 39m46.099s
- Luis Salom Paginas Amarillas HP 40 (Kalex) 39m48.038s
- Xavier Simeon Federal Oil Gresini (Kalex) 39m48.441s
- Julian Simon QMMF Racing Team (Speed Up) 39m51.040s
- Sandro Cortese Dynavolt Intact GP (Kalex) 39m 57.925s
- Axel Pons AGR Team (Kalex) 39m58.320s
- Lorenzo Baldassarri Athinà Forward Racing (Kalex) 39m59.381s
Moto3: Oliveira takes historic win
Miguel Oliveira became the first Portuguese winner in grand prix history in a frantic Moto3 race at Mugello on Sunday, where he crossed the line just 0.071s ahead of Britain's Danny Kent. While Oliveria has shown flashes of pace this season including a podium finish at Jerez, this result was completely out of the blue, since the 20 year old had qualified in 11th place.
Meanwhile, Francesco Bagnaia missed out of a podium finish by just three thousandths of a second in a customer Mahindra, having finished third at the previous round at Le Mans.
Moto3 Results - Top 10
- Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 39m39.510s
- Danny Kent Leopard Racing (Honda) 39m39.581s
- Romano Fenati SKY Racing (KTM) 39m39.637s
- Francesco Bagnaia MAPFRE (Mahindra) 39m39.640s
- Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing (Honda) 39m39.710s
- Niccolò Antonelli Ongetta-Rivacold (Honda) 39m39.891s
- Jorge Navarro Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 39m41.008s
- Isaac Viñales Husqvarna Factory Laglisse (Husqvarna) 39m41.086s
- Alexis Masbo SAXOPRINT RTG (Honda) 39m41.495s
- Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 39m41.649s
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