Barcelona MotoGP race
By: Matt Beer
Summary
Status: Stopped
Well, what a 70th birthday bash for MotoGP. This will be a day talked about for a long, long time.
Thank you so much for your company today, and we'll see you again when we head to the cathedral of motorcycle racing - Assen - in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much for your company today, and we'll see you again when we head to the cathedral of motorcycle racing - Assen - in a couple of weeks.
Marquez wins; Lorenzo takes out Dovizioso, Rossi
You have to feel Petrucci's third has pretty much sorted his future with Ducati. He's producing the results he's needed.
Marquez holds a 37-point lead in the standings now. Today could well be the day the title was sealed.
The list of non-finishers is vast and filled with massive scalps: Crutchlow, Morbidelli, Bagnaia, Syahrin, Rossi, Vinales, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Abraham, Espargaro.A, Smith.
Rins was fourth from Miller and Mir. Espargaro got the KTM home in seventh ahead of Nakagami, Rabat, Zarco - his first top 10 this year - Iannone, Oliveira and Guintoli.
Quartararo takes his maiden podium in second, with Petrucci completing the podium to give Ducati something to smile about after a dismal afternoon.
Rins eases up the inside of Miller at Turn 4 as his Ducati now has the turning capabilities of an elephant.
Miller is coming under intense scrutiny from Rins. The Pramac rider's grip has gone, by the looks of it.
Three laps to go, and Quartararo has pulled close to a second on Petrucci, lapping in the high 1m40s bracket. That's pretty special from the SRT rider.
A lonely seventh for Pol Espargaro this afternoon, but given how unkind this circuit is to the KTM, he will quite happily take that and move onto the next one.
Mir hasn't given this one up, though. Big amount of personal pride, as well as big points, on offer if he can beat Rins here.
A replay of the Rins moment at Turn 1 shows he just missed out on contact with Petrucci. Lucky boys.
Morbidelli had rejoined after his earlier spill, but has returned to pitlane now with five laps to go.
Much has changed in the 70 years since grand prix racing started. But the biggest and best is the fact all of these riders have been able to get back up and walk away from their crashes.
Crutchlow has crashed at Turn 4 trying to pass Miller. He launched it, but got out of shape and dumped it while running through the gravel.
Petrucci looks to have run out of edge grip. Quartararo is on the medium rear, and hasn't really been abusing that soft front by just hovering behind the Rins/Petrux battle. He's beginning to edge away now.
Petrucci twists the throttle on his Bologna missile to take second from Rins. Quartararo still loitering in fourth.
Lorenzo: "It is a tricky corner, I always say that, it is a very close hairpin and you don't have any options if you brake a little bit too late. I was very unfortunate to take out a lot of riders, Valentino, Andrea and Maverick. I feel really sorry for them because it wasn't their fault, obviously. It was my fault, my mistake, but this type of corner, it is very difficult not to make any mistake all the race."
Rins and Petrucci touch at Turn 4 as the Suzuki forces his way into second. That was tight, but great racing.
Crutchlow is coming into some serious pace. He's lapping in the mid-high 1m40s in seventh. Petrucci is backing the group from second to seventh together.
Good run here for Rabat on the Avintia in 11th. He has struggled immensely on his return from his horror leg injury of last year.
A replay from earlier shows Smith highsiding out of the race at Turn 10 into teammate Espargaro. Syahrin was caught up in that too, by the looks of it - which explains why he has dropped out. Espargaro had to be helped off his bike.
Rins does the same at Turn 1 as a couple of laps before. There's just nothing he can do with the pace of that Ducati in a straightline. Quartararo still fourth.
That Suzuki is so sharp through the turns, but its lack of grunt is forcing Rins to push harder than he'd want into the braking zones. That's going to chew up his rubber if he's not careful.
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