MotoGP Jerez – Marquez takes a dominant victory

The Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto was the scenario of three races filled with fantastic and also dramatic moments in all three races of the World Championship. On this fourth round of the season, victories went to Marc Marquez (MotoGP), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Moto2) and Philipp Oettl (Moto3).

But let’s take a look at each race.

In MotoGP, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) seemed untouchable on Saturday qualifying session, and starting from pole, the British rider was going to fight for the win. But at race start, it was Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Factory) who got the best start and immediately got the lead.

Further back, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was pushing to recover from a bad starting position, and got himself into the fight for the win in the first few laps, right behind his teammate Dani Pedrosa who tried to pass Lorenzo, but instead was passed by Marquez.

The MotoGP champion was the fastest on track, and after trailing de Ducati rider for a few laps, Marquez made the move and got the lead from Lorenzo, while at their back Cal Crutchlow and Dani Pedrosa weren’t far behind. Andrea Dovizioso was also gaining a lot of time to get back on the leading group.

Unfortunately for Crutchlow, a mistake in turn 1, losing the front of his Honda, made him crash and abandon the race leaving the three riders in front with a little advantage over Andrea Dovizioso.

But Dovizioso was fast, and a few corners later he was already pushing Dani Pedrosa to the limits, while Marquez managed to hold off any attempts of Lorenzo to retake the lead.

The four riders stayed together for the next laps, but by the middle of the race, Lorenzo, who chose the soft front tyre, couldn’t stay with Marquez and the champion felt that that was the right moment to run away for the win.

Marquez put in a fast laps sequence while behind him his rivals were in for a dramatic moment: at the end of the back straight, Dovizoso passed Lorenzo, but the two ran wide. Pedrosa saw the opening he wanted to get second place, but he was caught by Jorge Lorenzo that was getting back onto the race line. The two touched, and in the middle of the incident Andrea Dovizoso was also caught by Lorenzo’s bike.

This dramatic incident ended with all three riders on the ground and unable to continue.

Unaware of this, Marc Marquez ran away in the front and was now followed seven seconds behind by Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech3), a lonely second position, while the fight for third involved Andrea Iannone (Ectsar Suzuki), Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) and the other Pramac rider Jack Miller.

After many tough but clean overtakes, it was Andrea Iannone to come out on top of the group, in third, crossing the line behind Zarco in second, while Marc Marquez took a dominant victory and also the championship lead.

As for Hafyzh Syahrin, the Malaysian was always going to face a tough race in Jerez. Still recovering from injuries while training before the weekend, Syahrin started the race from the back of the grid, but he didn’t make any mistakes in the race, and while other riders were falling in front of him, he made sure to finish the race.

Hafyzh Syahrin crossed the finish line in 16th, just a place away from getting in the points again this season.

The race for the MotoGP title now has Marc Marquez in first with 70 points, Johann Zarco moves to second 12 points behind with 58, and Maverick Viñales is third with 50 points.

In Moto2, it was all about Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40). The Italian rider got the lead early on into the race, and he was never passed again, even though Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira – who confirmed moving up to MotoGP next season with KTM Tech3 – came close to overtake Baldassarri in the middle of the race.

But “Balda” was too strong, and Oliveira had to settle with second position, a lonely race to the end because Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia Marc VDS), who was third and trying to push Oliveira to the limit to make a mistake, lost the front of his bike and had to abandon the race.

With this, it was Francesco Bagnaia (SKY VR46) who got third position in Moto2.

As for the Malaysian riders in this class, Khairul Idam Pawi (Idemitsu Team Asia) was the only one to finish the race in 18th position, while Zulfhami Khairuddin (SIC Racing Team) only managed to complete 14 laps before he had to quit because of a crash.

In the Moto2 standings Francesco Bagnaia is still in the lead with 73 points, Lorenzo Baldassarri is second with 64 and Miguel Oliveira moves up into third with 63 points.

In the smaller class Moto3, German Philipp Oettl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing KTM) won after a fantastic battle until the checkered flag with Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP KTM). The two came out of last corner almost side-by-side, but the drag race to the finish line saw Oettl being faster and winning for the first time since arriving in Moto3.

Third position went to Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai), because rookie Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0.0) had to lose one position for going out of track limits, and so they switched positions.

Malaysian Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) tried to the end to get into the points, but he was unable to get better than 16th.

Marco Bezzechi leads the Moto3 world standings with 63 points, Jorge Martin follows in second with 55, and Aron Canet is third with 48 points.