REPSOL Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken his 50th career Grand Prix victory at Phillip Island in Australia in one of the most dramatic MotoGP races of all time.
Marquez secured the race win by just 0.249s from Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, with Andrea Iannone completing the podium leaving championship leader Valentino Rossi to settle for fourth.
The young Spaniard was involved in a race-long battle with the Movistar Ymaha teammates and title rivals Lorenzo and Rossi, plus the Ducati GP15 of Iannone, who qualified second on the grid.
Iannone led into turn one with Lorenzo and Marquez hot on his heels. Lorenzo took the lead at turn eight as Marquez and his teammate Dani Pedrosa made contact at turn 10. Iannone re-took the lead on lap two, only to be hit by a seagull on the entrance to turn four, which allowed Lorenzo to move back in front
Rossi, who started from seventh on the grid, sat back while overtakes and the exchanging of paint happened in front of him before he moved through the pack on lap three. The ‘Doctor’ overtook Pedrosa and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow to move up to fourth on lap four to join the fun at the front.
Lorenzo started to eeke out an advantage at the front, and by the end of lap 7 he had opened up a gap of 1.4s. Lorenzo’s lead, however, was down to a second at the end of lap 13 and by the end of lap 14, it was just 0.5s from Marquez, Iannone and Rossi – 10 laps remained.
Iannone proved the incredible pace of the GP15 as he overtook not one, but two riders on Gardner straight, but it was Lorenzo who led with seven laps to go.
On the final lap less than a second separated all four riders as Lorenzo led the pack across the line from Iannone, Marquez and Rossi.
Repsol Honda’s Marquez passed Iannone in the Southern Loop to move into second and then he set his sights on Lorenzo. Rossi came through on Iannone after contact at turn four, before Iannone fought back into third through Lukey Heights.
Marquez fired past Lorenzo at turn 10 while Rossi tried desperately to re-take third. Marquez remained in the lead for the remainder of the lap and even put in his fastest lap of the race as he took the chequered flag.
Lorenzo took second, his tenth podium of the year, which helps him to close the gap to Rossi in the standings to just 11 points with two races remaining. Iannone completed the podium in third – his third podium of the year and first since Mugello.
Marquez’s teammate Pedrosa came out on top in the battle for fifth as he crossed the line five seconds behind Rossi. The winner at Motegi had enjoyed an excellent race-long fight with Maverick Viñales and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who finished in sixth and seventh respectively.
Pol Espargaro won the battle of the brothers as he beat Aleix to eighth. Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith completed the top 10, finishing less than a second ahead of his compatriot Scott Redding on the Marc VDS Honda in eleventh.
LCR Honda’s Jack Miller took the open class victory at his home grand prix by finishing in fifteenth.
Race results:
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team 40:33.849
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 40:34.098 (+0.249)
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 40:34.779 (+0.930)
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 40:34.907 (+1.058)
5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 40:38.911 (+5.062)
6. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 40:40.649 (+6.800)
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda 40:43.224 (+9.375)
8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 40:52.250 (+18.401)
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 40:53.888 (+20.039)
10. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 40:54.506 (+20.657)
11. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 40:55.695 (+21.846)
12. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing 40:56.689 (+22.840)
13. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 41:03.017 (+29.168)
14. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini 41:11.093 (+37.244)
15. Jack Miller AUS LCR Honda 41:14.041 (+40.192)
16. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 41:22.112 (+48.263)
17. Yonny Hernandez COL Octo Pramac Racing 41:22.421 (+48.572)
18. Loris Baz FRA Forward Racing 41:22.526 (+48.677)
19. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 41:24.050 (+50.201)
20. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing 41:24.111 (+50.262)
21. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini 41:24.126 (+50.277)
22. Toni Elias SPA Forward Racing 41:54.791 (+1:20.942)
23. Anthony West AUS AB Motoracing 41:57.303 (+1:23.454)
DNF. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team
DNF. Damian Cudlin AUS E-Motion IodaRacing
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