Marquez wins dramatic Catalunya Grand Prix

Jorge Lorenzo played what could be described as the ultimate team-mate gesture during the Catalunya MotoGP race on June 16, wiping out all the major championship contenders except for fellow Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez.

After a race for the ages in Mugello two weeks’ ago, pundits had anticipated another epic showing in Barcelona for round seven of the 2019 MotoGP season.

However, expectations were quickly tempered on lap two when Lorenzo, in only his second top 10 start with his new HRC outfit, crashed out at turn 10, collecting Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha) in the process.

The Spaniard was left to simply rue the entire fiasco, which gifted Marquez a clear path to victory and extended the number 93’s championship lead to 37 points. Marquez finished the race ahead of rookie sensation and polesitter Fabio Quartararo (Petronas SRT Yamaha) and in-form Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati).

FULL RESULTS HERE

“It was my fault, my mistake and I apologise,” a very downbeat Lorenzo said afterwards.

“It was really unfortunate to take out Dovi, Maverick and Valentino – it wasn’t their fault obviously, it was mine. The only thing that matters today is the crash, I took out three riders unfortunately but if we think aside from this it was a weekend where we were able to make a step forward and I was consistent throughout.”

Dovizioso, Rossi and Vinales could do nothing but shake their heads at the incident, Dovi losing huge ground on the championship and Yamaha’s hopes dashed in one fell swoop after filling four of the top five grid spots in qualifying.

“This is a great shame, because we did a good weekend,” Rossi said.

“We worked well during the practice sessions and we also made a good tyre choice. I felt really comfortable on the bike and I had a good pace already this morning, but it looked like this afternoon it was even better.

“On the positive side, it was a better weekend, compared to Mugello. I was competitive and enjoyed it a lot more, so we will start again from this point.”

They say you make your own luck, however Lorenzo’s ill-fated lunge really played fortuitously into the hands of Marquez. The Spaniard was simply beaming after securing a home victory – his first at Barcelona since 2014.

“I chose the soft rear to try and push in the beginning and to try to not overheat the tyre but to try to be constant and fast,” he said.

“All of the Repsol Honda Team did a really good job this weekend; we worked hard and prepared well for the race. The team told me something had happened to Dovi, so I just kept pushing and focusing on my own race.

“We had the perfect strategy regardless and I want to thank all the fans who came out. Gracias! It’s always special when you can celebrate winning together with your brother, Alex rode well this weekend!”

Equally happy was Quartararo, securing his first ever MotoGP podium, and Petrucci, securing his third consecutive spot on the dais.

Australian Jack Miller was also advantaged by the Lorenzo incident, finishing a strong fifth after starting the race from 14th, passed only by Alex Rins in the dying laps.

“It was a good race. I got off to a good start and fought with the front group for the whole race. The feeling with the bike was very good even though we couldn’t get the tyres to work as well as we could. This is a good result but I want to do better at Assen,” Miller said.

Barcelona proved to be a war of attrition just as Miller had suggested after Saturday qualifying. Aside from the Lorenzo incident, Franco Morbidelli, Cal Crutchlow, Pecco Bagnaia, Hafizh Syahrin and Bradley Smith all DNFd.

Off the line it was the GP19 of Dovizioso who got the best launch and the Italian beat Quartararo and Marquez down into turn one to grab the holeshot, with Quartararo slipping backwards as the lights went out in Barcelona.

The likes of Viñales also made a good start but it was Lorenzo who was one of the biggest movers – the five-time champion coming from P10 to slingshot his way to fourth at turn five on lap one.

Viñales had managed to get past Marquez but the latter took P2 back on lap two before a huge, race-defining moment struck at the front. Coming into the tricky turn 10, Lorenzo was late on the brakes as he attempted to pass Viñales up the inside as teammate Marquez went to dive past race leader Dovi.

However, in too hot, Lorenzo then tucked the front as Dovi turned into the corner. The number 99 Repsol Honda collected the number 04 bike and the former teammates went down, with Viñales also crashing after being left with nowhere to go.

Rossi, who was also late on the brakes as he tried to pass Petrucci, went wide and became another victim of Lorenzo’s crash – The Doctor almost kept it upright, but he and his Yamaha became too tangled with Lorenzo’s RC213V as the nine-time world champion crashed out. Four podium contenders and four world champions were out of the Catalan GP.

This chaos left Marquez with a healthy cushion at the front and from then on, the reigning world champion started to edge out his advantage over second place Petrucci, his lead nearly two seconds with 20 laps to go as the battle for the second and third places on the box raged on.