Two laps on, Pedrosa was all over the back of Dovizioso, as Lorenzo
started to pull out a small gap at the front. Ducati’s Valentino Rossi
had fought his way up to seventh, much to the delight of the home crowd,
yet was having no easy ride, as Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow was looking for a
way past on his satellite Yamaha. With 15 laps remaining Stoner’s tyres
had come up to temperature, and the Australian managed to push his way
past Hayden into fifth. A lap later Bradl put in a brave move on
Dovizioso in turn one to slot into third. This was followed up by big
drama as Stoner ran off track into the gravel, managing to keep the bike
upright and re-joining in tenth.
Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez meanwhile crashed out of 18th place,
but managed to walk away unhurt. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin
Edwards also had his race cut short as he retired with a mechanical
issue. With eight laps remaining the grid had spread out, yet Crutchlow
was still dicing with Rossi. A lap later Stoner had caught up to the
back of San Carlo’s Álvaro Bautista, and put in an aggressive move,
pushing the Spaniard wide and moving up into ninth. The final three laps
promised further excitement as Dovizioso went past Bradl on the brakes
into third, while Hayden, and the pursuing duo of Rossi and Crutchlow
closed in on the podium battle. In the final lap Hayden made his way
past Bradl, who fought back with a hard move, which pushed the American
wide. This let Rossi through into fifth, with Crutchlow also taking
advantage to nip into sixth.
Yet ultimately it was Lorenzo who took the chequered flag for his
second successive victory at the track in front of Dani Pedrosa and
Andrea Dovizioso, who recoded his fourth podium of the season. Bradl was
however one of the happiest riders, as he recorded his best ever finish
in the premier class. Fifth spot went to Rossi, followed by Crutchlow,
Hayden, Stoner, Barberá, Bautista and Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who was
suffering from food poisoning. Top CRT spot went to De Puniet in 12th.
Lorenzo now has a 19-point gap at the top of the championship ahead of
Pedrosa and 37 ahead of Stoner.
It was Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc
Márquez who got the holeshot, yet he was closely pursued by Pons 40 HP
Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró and Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith. In the first
few beds, Italtrans Racing Team Claudio Corti ran his bike wide onto the
gravel, dropping back down the grid. Two laps in there were already
numerous crashes from NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis and
Kiefer Racing’s Max Neukirchner. With 17 laps left Espargaró almost
clipped the rear wheel of Corti’s teammate Takaaki Nakagami going too
hot into turn one, but narrowly avoided crashing.
Nakagami was a man on a mission, as he had pushed his way up into
second a lap later as he pursued Interwetten-Paddock’s Lüthi, with
Márquez and Iannone in tow. The Japanese rider wasted no time to push
his way into first and led the pack heading into the next lap. Local
rider Alessandro Andreozzi crashed on that lap on board his S/Master
Speed Up bike, putting an end to his charge in front of his home fans.
Shortly after he was followed by Cresto Guide MZ Racing’s Mike Di
Meglio, who also dropped his bike in the gravel.
As the group headed into lap 13, Espargaró’s teammate Axel Pons and
Tech 3’s Xavier Siméon crashed out of the race, while QMMF Racing Team’s
Elena Rosell retired with a mechanical issue. Meanwhile Lüthi had
fought his way back to the front, while Márquez had slipped into third
ahead of Iannone, who was soon also taken by Espargaró. Desguaces La
Torre SAG’s Massimo Roccoli suffered a crash further down the pack,
while Pons rider Esteve Rabat also crashed out.
Espargaró provided the team with some hope however as he challenged
Márquez with a move, and then went past Nakagami into second. With nine
laps to go Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi ran off track, but was
able to re-join. Espargaró and Lüthi touched fairings fighting for the
lead with eight laps left, and did well not to crash as the Spaniard
took the lead. Márquez also almost suffered a near crush as he pushed
hard, with Mapfre Aspar Team’s Toni Elías crashing out heavily behind,
prompting a brief oil flag.
With six laps left Espargaró started to pull out a lead, prompting
Iannone to take Lüthi for second and hunt down the Spaniard. Heading
into the final two laps Iannone was on the Spaniard’s rear wheel, while
Lüthi made a mistake heading into turn one, but kept his place. The
Italian ultimately passed Espargaró in turn one on the last lap,
prompting a nail bighting finale. And it was Iannone who kept his nerve
right up until the end to narrowly take the win, with Espargaró and
Lüthi completing the final spots on the rostrum. Smith and Márquez
completed the top five with the Spaniard still 34 points clear at the
top of the championship ahead of Espargaró and Iannone, who are now
equal on points. They were followed by Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott
Redding, Nakagami, Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter, Corti and JiR
Moto2’s Johann Zarco.
Moto3: Viñales takes close-fought victory at Italian GP
At this weekend’s Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello it was
Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales who recorded a narrow victory in the
Moto3™ race ahead of local favourite Romano Fenati and Sandro Cortese.
It was AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin
who got the best start as he led the frantic opening stages with JHK
Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins and Viñales
in tow. There was drama early on as Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi
crashed out on lap two, almost taking out Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent.
Team Italia FMI’s Fenati started to charge up the field three laps
in, taking the lead in front of Red Bull KTM’s Sandro Cortese. While the
racing was keeping the crowd entertained, further down the group Mapfre
Aspar Team Moto3’s Alberto Moncayo and RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom
crashed out of the race, putting an end to their charge.
With 15 laps left, Rins, Cortese and Vázquez used the slipstream down
the home straight to take the lead, while Cortese’s teammate Arthur
Sissis retired from the race with a mechanical issue. Turn one at the
end of the home straight proved the most popular overtaking zone after a
tow down the straight, as a lap later the lead changed once more with
Viñales taking to the front. On the same lap, Rins’ teammate Miguel
Oliveira suffered a crash as he was chasing the leading group.
IodaRacing Project’s Jonas Folger suffered further misery to his
season as he had to pit with a bike problem on lap 13. Two laps later
San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli made his charge to front, as
Fenati and him led the group dicing for first spot. On the same lap,
Moto FGR’s Jasper Iwema pulled into the pits with a mechanical issue,
ending his race prematurely.
A group of seven riders had formed at the front with nine laps
remaining, with all riders switching positions frequently as the win and
final podium positions were being hotly contested, while Khairuddin led
the group for eighth. A lap later Viñales made his way into the lead
and tried to pull out a gap to the front, with Cortese and Rins doing
their best to stick with him. Fenati however put the hammer down and
joined Viñales and Cortese at the front, as a battle for the top three
spots ensued.
With four laps to go Fenati slipped into second to start attacking
Viñales, yet Cortese looked content to stalk the pair in third. The trio
stuck together and were nearly wheel-to-wheel heading into the last
lap, where Cortese tried to push his way through on turn one. This
however let Fenati into the lead, yet Viñales fought straight back.
Cortese then muscled his way into second, after which they entered onto
the final home straight almost side by side.
In the end it was Viñales who won the drag to the line to take the
chequered flag by a mere two hundredths of a second, with Fenati and
Cortese completing the podium. Cortese still retains the championship
lead, although Viñales has now cut it to nine points. The winning trio
were followed by Antonelli, Kent, Vázquez, Rins, Redox-Ongetta-Centro
Seta’s Jakub Kornfeil, Khairuddin and Mapfre’s Héctor Faubel.
