The Catalunya MotoGP race earlier today turned into a crash-fest, and, in the end, only 13 riders finished.
The most spectacular crash occurred in the first few laps when Jorge Lorenzo (Honda) low-sided in a corner while fighting over second place – knocking down the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales, and the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso. Each of these four riders retired, largely uninjured.
This crash immediately created a large gap for Marc Marquez (Honda) at the front, and he was never headed as he crossed the line with a sizeable gap over second place Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and third place Danilo Petrucci (Ducati). This was rookie Quartararo’s first MotoGP podium finish.
Follow this link to full race results. For additional details and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
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My takeaway from the race was that when Jorge took out himself and the others in the old guard it gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the next few seasons. Those future races should feature some great battles with Marquez, Quartararo and Rins. You could almost see the learning going on in Quartararo’s racecraft as he carefully followed Petrucci and Rins without losing touch then sped away to a well earned 2nd. It’s going to be fun following these guys.
If anyone wants to take odds betting against MM winning the Title over the next ten seasons, please contact me.
If you like watching MotoGP races for podium 2-3, enjoy MotoGP. If not, you’re S out of luck!
And if you don’t think that these guys will be Marc’s tormentors over those 10 seasons then you may not be watching the same races I have.
Congrats to Fabio, I’m sure he’ll take that placing without questions. Sorry the others had to be taken out in the crash. I know that’s racing, but still a shame for them.
Looked to me like a normal racing incident. Lorenzo was on the inside with plenty of space when he lost the front end which is a common compalint on Hondas with cold tires according to the Honda riders. When that happens it slides to the outside. Unfortunately Dovi was there, then Vinales. Rossi tried to avoid it but ran over Lorenzos Honda which put him down.
Shame because it had the potential to be a great race.
I agree. He may have been coming in a little hot, but no more than Rossi and maybe even Vinales. I think when Marquez got by Dovi, it forced Dovi to brake and ended up just being a lot slower in the corner than Lorenzo would have otherwise expected. Lorenzo needed more brake, and the front was just out of potential.
From the videos it appears Lorenzo was way too hot into that corner. Someone as experienced as he should know better – you don’t win the race in the first few laps.
Really, I bet Lorenzo didnt know that, I’ll be sure to tell him.
Smarta$$ That was a mistake a rookie would make, not a multi-time champion.
About half tucked the front end and crashed out of that race, so they too are all rookies? and when Marquez tucked his front end by himself at COTA, he was a rookie too then? And when Rossi tucked his front end and crashed out a couple races ago, another “rookie” mistake, you sure have a lot of telling to do, your so smart, huh. name calling is your MO. Intelligent comments are not.
“your so smart” is an intelligent comment?
Actually, both Marc and Jorge, among others, have won a number of races in the first few laps.
If you watch the incident from multiple angles, Vinales was pulling away from Lorenzo slightly. Marc was slightly slower than Lorenzo, and Dovi was by far the slowest of the four. Jorge was only “too hot” because Dovi was way under the speed of the rest of the group, and Lorenzo had nowhere to go.
Lorenzo took the blame and apologized. It was the proper thing to do as a sportsman. Both Dovi and Petrux have been using the brakes and engine to block riders in the corners. This is not the first time that it has come back to bite them, and others. Unfortunately, it is the best technique that Ducati has at the moment. Jorge used it last year as well. I didn’t like watching Petrucci blocking Rins for so long, but I was impressed with how well he was able to do it for so long.
Rossi was in a bit hot, or he could possibly have made it through the corner underneath. Maverick complained, but I don’t think he has a valid position, especially when the videos show that he was in the corner hotter than Lorenzo. I lost some respect for MV over his comments.
Arguably it is a shame about Dovi, but he is 37 points behind with the same number of DNF’s as Marc.
It was for way to short of a time, but it was nice to see a brief glimpse of the “old Lorenzo” carving up the field again. Probably way to late for a championship impact, but maybe we will see him up front taking podiums and possibly even wins before too much longer.