Mugello MotoGP race day
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Marquez gets Simeon down the inside of Turn 1.
Marquez will probably clear Simeon in P17 on pace, but he would need some dramas up ahead to get back into the points.
The gap between Lorenzo and Dovizioso has stabilised at around one second. As far as Lorenzo leading early on goes, we've seen this movie before - but this is a fantastic track for him and he's further ahead than he's been for a long, long time.
Vinales finally gets the job done on Zarco, but this has left him seven seconds off the race leader.
Teammate Rossi is fading ahead, and will soon come under pressure from Petrucci.
Teammate Rossi is fading ahead, and will soon come under pressure from Petrucci.
Vinales' appalling start has left him behind Zarco - he seems to be faster than the uncharacteristically-struggling Frenchman, but can't find a way past.
Lorenzo is doing a stellar job, running almost a second clear of Dovizioso, who doesn't look to be closing in just yet. Another 15 laps to run, mind.
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Running order: 1 Lorenzo; 2 Dovizioso; 3 Iannone; 4 Rossi; 5 Petrucci; 6 Rins; 7 Crutchlow; 8 Zarco; 9 Vinales; 10 Bautista; 11 Smith; 12 P Espargaro; 13 A Espargaro; 14 Syahrin; 15 Morbidelli; 16 Rabat; 17 Simeon; 18 Marquez (rejoined); 19 Nakagami (rejoined).
Rossi runs well wide at Turn 1 trying to defend from Iannone, and allows the Suzuki rider through.
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As Lorenzo starts to break away, Dovizioso gets Rossi at Arrabbiatta 1. This might just turn into an all-Ducati affair here.
Danilo Petrucci is hustling his yellow-and-black Pramac Ducati around, and has now overtaken Rins for fifth.
This is pretty big for the championship, although Marquez will still lead by a reasonable margin heading out of Mugello, whatever happens next.
Rossi now up to second, Dovizioso has passed Iannone for third.
It was Turn 10, the Scarperia right-hander. He slid very slowly and tried to save it with his elbow, but there was no recovering.
He is not out, though - he has remounted in 18th, and it was a slow enough crash not to damage the bike too much.
He is not out, though - he has remounted in 18th, and it was a slow enough crash not to damage the bike too much.
Crash
Marquez is down!
The four-bike lead group is now more of a seven-bike leading group, although they're more single-file than Moto3-style pack madness.
The good news for Lorenzo is that his Ducati is very much the bike to have at the start-finish straight. He's not in the clear, but he's not under serious pressure.
Crash
Pedrosa and Nakagami was indeed a two-bike crash - even more than that, actually, as Pedrosa looked to have clipped the rear of another bike before losing control and taking Nakagami with him.
Lorenzo is pacing himself out front, as the top four seems to be breaking away. Rossi has a look down Marquez's inside at San Donato, but he's nowhere near making a move.
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Current top 10: 1 Lorenzo; 2 Marquez; 3 Rossi; 4 Iannone; 5 Dovizioso; 6 Rins; 7 Petrucci; 8 Crutchlow; 9 Zarco; 10 Vinales.
Crash
Miller is out after all - a Turn 4 crash. Tom Luthi now down, too. We're down to 18 bikes.
Marquez goes past Rossi on the brakes at Turn 1 San Donato.
Miller is still in the race, but he's running 20th. Rather chaotic start to proceedings, but it's all square out front at the moment.
Crash
Scott Redding has crashed out, as has Karel Abraham - and we seem to have lost Jack Miller.
Crash
Nakagami also down and will DNF for the first time in his MotoGP career, not sure if that was related to the Pedrosa off.
Crash
Pedrosa has crashed out at Turn 2.
Lorenzo leads from Rossi, Marquez, Iannone, Dovizioso, Rins. Vinales has gone from third to 11th.
Marquez sits up Petrucci, who has been pushed wide in the fight for third. Very aggressive, Petrucci won't much care for that.
Lights green
The Italian Grand Prix kicks off at Mugello! Lorenzo with his usual awesome start, takes the lead into Turn 1.
So, hard front - medium rear for the works Yamahas, hard - hard for Marquez, medium - soft for Iannone and Lorenzo. Could be crucial for the outcome of this race.
The warm-up lap is underway.
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Championship standings (top 10): 1 Marquez, 95; 2 Vinales, 59; 3 Zarco, 58; 4 Rossi, 56; 5 Petrucci, 54; 6 Miller, 49; 7 Iannone, 47; 8 Crutchlow, 46; 9 Dovizioso, 46; 10 Pedrosa, 29.
"Vale, Vale, Vale, Vale," chants the famously impartial Mugello crowd, before booing its lungs out as Marc Marquez shows up on the screen.
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MotoGP has had some good races and some not-so-good races this year - and while there isn't usually much correlation, you could take some encouragement from the feeder categories.
Jorge Martin won a fun Moto3 romp, prevailing in a three-way photo-finish against Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio - after a race in which the Spaniard had a near-miss with a hare and had a piece of gravel punch a hole through his windscreen.
Long-time leader Mattia Pasini crashed out in Moto2, allowing for a fantastic duel between Miguel Oliveira and Lorenzo Baldassarri - in which the former prevailed.
Oliveira will be in MotoGP next year, as will points leader Pecco Bagnaia. Bagnaia narrowly lost out on a podium finish to Joan Mir - who will also almost certainly be in MotoGP next year.
Jorge Martin won a fun Moto3 romp, prevailing in a three-way photo-finish against Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio - after a race in which the Spaniard had a near-miss with a hare and had a piece of gravel punch a hole through his windscreen.
Long-time leader Mattia Pasini crashed out in Moto2, allowing for a fantastic duel between Miguel Oliveira and Lorenzo Baldassarri - in which the former prevailed.
Oliveira will be in MotoGP next year, as will points leader Pecco Bagnaia. Bagnaia narrowly lost out on a podium finish to Joan Mir - who will also almost certainly be in MotoGP next year.
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It hasn't been Honda's best race weekend this year, but while Marc Marquez is at least on the second row, works teammate Dani Pedrosa has toiled badly, qualifying a career-worst 20th.
Pedrosa, who attributed Saturday's disaster to crashing his “best bike” and a general lack of rear grip, is still waiting on a decision from Honda over his contract – and though there are no obvious alternatives, the timing of this particular slump will not help.
He was a much-improved eighth in warm-up though, so should be able to make up some ground in the 23-lap race.
Pedrosa, who attributed Saturday's disaster to crashing his “best bike” and a general lack of rear grip, is still waiting on a decision from Honda over his contract – and though there are no obvious alternatives, the timing of this particular slump will not help.
He was a much-improved eighth in warm-up though, so should be able to make up some ground in the 23-lap race.
The one-off Lamborghini livery that Pramac will race today has apparently divided opinion – something that has confused this writer, who believes it to be incredibly rad. (Photo: Matteo Nugnes)
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Grid: 1 Rossi; 2 Lorenzo; 3 Vinales; 4 Iannone; 5 Petrucci; 6 Marquez; 7 Dovizioso; 8 Crutchlow; 9 Zarco; 10 Rins; 11 Miller; 12 Morbidelli; 13 Rabat; 14 Syahrin; 15 P Espargaro; 16 Bautista; 17 Smith; 18 Nakagami; 19 Luthi; 20 Pedrosa; 21 A Espargaro; 22 Abraham; 23 Redding; 24 Simeon.
But if there is one man who looks marginally quicker than the rest, it's Suzuki's soon-to-be-outcast Andrea Iannone.
His one-lap pace has let him down a little, and he starts only fourth as a result, but he's now topped four practice sessions – including this morning's warm-up – and looks in with a better hope than ever of scoring his first win with Suzuki.![Analysis: The other Italian who could spoil Rossi's party]()
His one-lap pace has let him down a little, and he starts only fourth as a result, but he's now topped four practice sessions – including this morning's warm-up – and looks in with a better hope than ever of scoring his first win with Suzuki.
By: Matt Beer
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