Marquez outclasses Dovi in Aragon

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) continued to assert his authority on the 2018 MotoGP World Championship after winning a race-long fight with second-placed Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) at MotorLand Aragon in Spain on September 23, with Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar) earning the Hamamatsu factory’s first Aragon rostrum.

“Today I got up and I said ‘I have the feeling to take a risk’,” said Marquez, who made a late call to switch to a soft rear tyre. “And it was the right choice, and then the fight was incredible until the end with Dovi because we did a great show for the fans… it was a great moment.”

It was pole man Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) who entered the race as the favourite, though dramatically crashed out at Turn One on the opening lap, injuring his foot and later publicly blaming Marquez for the incident.

The day before, Lorenzo had snatched pole from teammate Dovizioso and Honda rival Marquez, but after the latter got a great launch from P3 on the grid he dived up the inside to grab the holeshot, sending both riders wide and resulting in a spectacular highside for Lorenzo.

This first corner drama allowed Dovizioso to take the lead, with Marquez slotting into second ahead of the two fast-starting Suzukis of Iannone and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar). The Ducati rider then settled into a rhythm and controlled the pace, but the following quintet which included Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro were locked in tow for the opening exchanges. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) was joining the back of the leading group after he lost out on the opening lap from a P4 start, but the British rider then crashed out at on lap five unhurt.

Back on track and Rins was looking menacing behind Marquez, shadowing numerous overtaking attempts into the first corner as both Suzukis kept tabs on the leading duo. By lap 11, Dovi, Marquez, Rins and Iannone had edged out two-second gap to Pedrosa and Espargaro, when ‘DesmoDovi’ turned up the wick and posted the fastest lap of the race a lap later. Marquez responded to cling onto the exhaust pipe of the Italian as the two looked to have broken clear of the GSX-RRs.

Marquez passed Doviziozo at Turn 12 as the battle for the win kicked into life. On lap 16, Dovizioso got the drive up the hill to duck under Marquez at Turn 4, only for the Repsol Honda rider to immediately respond up the inside at Turn 5, with the Italian then biting straight back at Turn 7. This allowed Iannone to close the gap and then on lap 19, at Turn 12, Marquez pounced again.

The Spaniard ran slightly wide, which allowed Dovizioso to stick his GP18 up the inside at Turn 14. Marquez tried his best to hold the position but he found himself on the astroturf, but he cut back to get the inside line before the back straight, with Dovizioso chopping back underneath at Turn 15. Iannone made use of the battling pair ahead of him and took the outside line around the six-time World Champion to briefly lead. It was breathtaking stuff from the trio, with Dovi and Marquez’s straight-line speed getting the better of Iannone on the run down to Turn 16.

With the knowledge that he’s never won a last-lap battle with Dovi, Marquez made the race-defining move on lap 21 and the reigning World Champion held firm until the chequered flag to take a third straight win in Aragon, equaling Mike Hailwood’s win tally of 41 for Honda in the process. Dovi settled for second to equal Casey Stoner’s Grands Prix podium count, with Iannone earning his third podium of the year.

Rins went on to score his second consecutive fourth-place finish ahead of Pedrosa in fifth in what was his penultimate Grand Prix in front of a home crowd. Espargaro excelled in sixth to pick up the Aprilia’s best result of the season, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) in seventh, just under a second ahead of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).

Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) lost out to Rossi in the latter stages after suffering late tyre issues for a credible ninth place for the Australian, with Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) rounding out the top 10.

“Ninth at Aragon doesn’t sound like a lot – who comes into a race weekend saying ‘I really want to finish ninth’? – but considering how things have been for me lately, it’s pretty good,” Miller said. “I just couldn’t get the life out of the tyre at all today. I was eighth and starting to claw back towards Petrucci with seven or eight laps to go, and then I had this feeling like the bike had jumped out of gear or something, because I had this huge vibration.

“I thought I’d delaminated the rear tyre on the left-hand side, so that was a bit of a panic because I thought I was probably going to have to retire or crash.”

Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) won the battle of the rookies in P11, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) 12th, Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 13th, Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 14th and Karel Abraham (Angel Nieto Team) 15th.

A monumental Marquez victory on home soil leaves the Honda rider with one hand on the title as in less than two weeks the premier class heads to Thailand for the first time – will it be another Marquez vs Ducati contest?