After all the drama following on from the incident that occurred with Scott Redding’s rear tyre during FP4 where his tyre delaminated, Race Direction had to take necessary precautions so not to further risk the health and safety of the riders.
Race Control declared the race dry and shortened the distance to twenty laps; the track temperature was twenty-nine degrees Celsius and the weather conditions were cloudy. Riders were able to use the hard or medium tyre that was surrounded by controversy and they had to make a pit stop after lap nine and before lap eleven was over.
Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took the lead, Ducati rider Andrea ‘The Maniac’ Iannone messed up on the approach and came into contact with Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez; he ended up running wide and taking Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa with him. The camera came loose on the rear of Marquez’s bike as a result of the contact but he was not called in to change bikes despite the hazard as it was just hanging on by the wire.
Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso soon overtook Lorenzo on the outside and Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi went up the inside of him resulting in the Spanish 2015 Champion who lost two places in one corner. Marquez soon got past him followed by Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Maverick Vinales and Iannone leaving the Spanish champion insixth position by the end of the first lap.
As they entered lap two LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow came off at the dreaded turn one and Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Aleix Espargaro crashed right behind him almost as a reaction to Crutchlow’s fall; both were able to continue.
Marquez chased Rossi who was in pursuit of Dovizioso who was now leading the race, however, it was Iannone who was the faster Ducati as he broke through the 1:42-minute barrier after lap two.
Marquez looked too close for comfort to Rossi (which may have been causing flashbacks to the 2015 race to the riders and all those who were watching), who started to make his move on Dovizioso. However, Marquez attacked and was able to overtake Rossi and Dovizioso by the end of the third lap. Vinales was soon behind Rossi who was being chased by Iannone who was still the fastest man on track. Dovizioso then went wide on the giving Marquez a slight break; Marquez broke through 1:42 barrier on fourth lap.
Rossi soon got past Dovizioso who was soon going to become the latest victim of his teammate Iannone who had previously overtaken Vinales. The two Ducatis then battled allowing Vinales to catch up to them.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda rider Jack Miller who has looked promising all weekend, unfortunately, crashed on turn three of lap 4. Miller had crashed several times throughout the weekend and this time, the bike somersaulted ending his weekend early. Another crash occurred at turn one on the next lap! The 2015 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who has struggled all weekend, also crashed coming out of turn one on the fifth lap. This ended a disastrous weekend for the Spaniard who has looked uncomfortable and found it difficult to perform to his usual high standard all weekend; his wings ‘flew’ off and landed a good distance away from the bike.
Back to the front of the race and Marquez went wide with fourteen laps to go allowing Rossi, who was riding at a fantastic place, to catch up. After nine laps Vinales had made it past both the Ducatis to take third position. On lap nine Rossi overtook Marquez but went wide and Marquez got back past.
Riders were now allowed to pit and Vinales and Iannone were the first in. The riders visited the pits over the next three laps, news then came that Aprilia Team rider Alvaro Bautista crashed in pit lane when switching bikes ended his race.
Marquez and Rossi continued to battle on track and it was close as both entered the pits together. Rossi lost a little more than Marquez who was more efficient than the Italian when changing bikes. Rabat stayed out as long as he could and ended up sitting in between Marquez and Rossi when they returned to the track.
When everything settled down after the pit stops it was Marquez who led Rossi ahead of Vinales and the two Ducatis. Pedrosa was next, followed closely by Scott Redding; there was a slight gap between him and Barbera who was being chased Pol Espargaro (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha) and Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati). Aspar Team MotoGP rider Eugene Laverty was now in eleventh.
Things settled for a short while after the pits, but it was not long before the action restarted as Redding overtook Pedrosa to take sixth position with eight laps to go. Barbera then went wide allowing Pol Espargaro to catch up. Unfortunately, for Redding, his bike broke down with five laps to go ending a difficult weekend for him early despite all his brave efforts.
Rossi struggled to find his rhythm that he had before the pit stop on his first bike; Vinales was now lapping half a second faster and looking like he was catching Rossi. With six laps to go, Vinales was on Rossi’s tail. Behind Vinales, Iannone claimed fourth position back from Dovizioso on the next lap.
With four laps to go Vinales challenged the Italian, but Rossi was better on the brakes; this made Rossi push a bit harder. Iannone caught right up to Vinales and distracted him slightly, allowing Rossi to break away, but then Vinales took the wider line entering turn one on the seventeenth lap and slid off, ending another great performance early.
Then it was the battle of the Italian friends as Iannone had Rossi in his sights. At the end of the straight Iannone overtook Rossi and went wide taking Rossi with him slightly, this allowed Dovizioso to gain two places. Rossi battled back and briefly overtook Iannone who retook third. The battle for third then continued; as they entered the last lap Rossi overtook Iannone at one point but went wide. It came to the last corner and the two Ducatis ended up in the gravel trap. Iannone had tried to out-brake his teammate and overtake on the inside of him but ‘The Maniac’ lost control of his Ducati and slid off taking Dovizioso.
Marquez won the race and finished 7.679 seconds ahead of Rossi who claimed second following the incident with the Ducatis. Pedrosa managed to finish in third to claim the last place on the podium. Irishman Eugene Laverty finished in a well-deserved fourth place which was his best ever result in the MotoGP class. Barbera followed Laverty after the two gained a position from Pol Espargaro who went off the track towards the end of the race but managed to finish in sixth.
Stefan Bradl got the best result yet on the Aprilia which is new to the MotoGP class this season; he finished ahead of Smith, Rabat and his teammate Bautista who was able to re-join. Espargaro finished in eleventh ahead of Danilo Petrucci’s replacement Michele Pirro in twelfth, and a disappointed Dovizioso ran across the finish line pushing his Ducati to claim three points. Unfortunately for Crutchlow, he crashed again on the final lap!
It seems Marquez managed to save his ‘fall’ until after the race; the Spaniard slipped and fell on the top step of the podium as Rossi drank his drink so not to react to his rival’s misfortune.
