fastest before Quartararo produced
another exquisite lap—a 1:39.484,
a 10th of a second quicker than
the previous best. Then he was on
his way to an even better lap, but
found Viñales touring, waving at
his hometown crowd on the racing
line through Turn Nine. “I thought
I already took the checkered flag,”
said Viñales later. “So I was just
saying ‘hey’ to the people. I make
wheelies, everything.”
Quartararo’s immediate an-
ger was nearly intensified when
Marquez prepared his own as-
sault in Rossi’s slipstream, the
hometown hero getting within
0.015-second of Quartararo’s best
on his penultimate lap. Then Mar-
quez’s final effort nearly came un-
done at Turn Four, when only cat-
like reactions prevented a brutal
high-side, similar to Morbidelli’s.
It was Quartararo's second
pole in four races. By the age of
20 years and 57 days, those were
two more than any other rider
in history. “This one’s special,”
Quartararo beamed. “Physically
we didn’t take any medication yes-
terday and today. We will hope to
stay in this position and hope we
don’t lose a lot of positions.”
Second was a solid end to a
complicated day for Marquez. In
FP3 he was enraged to find Loren-
zo touring on the racing line when
he was vying for a fast time. The
Spaniard was then piqued by ques-
tions regarding his tactics of fol-
lowing Rossi throughout the day.
“My target is try to be in the front
row all the races and I’ve been,”
Marquez bluntly responded.
The FIM Stewards eventu-
ally demoted Viñales (who ended
the session third), three places for
his inexcusable error of judgment.
That penalty promoted Morbidelli
to third. “Saturday started pret-
ty bad but it ended pretty good,”
Morbidelli said as he nursed
bruising to his rear end and right
thigh. Rossi was fourth and morelike his old self after his Mugel-
lo misery, and said, “I have good
speed and good pace.”
Mission Winnow Ducati’s An-
drea Dovizioso was fifth, happy
with his bike. “But for the race we
have a big question mark,” he said,
regarding tire choice. “Everybody
is struggling. It’s a bit difficult to
understand.” The demoted Viñales
was sixth ahead of Danilo Petruc-
ci on the second Mission Winnow
Ducati and ECSTAR Suzuki’s Alex
Rins, whose FP4 pace singled him
out as a pre-race favorite before he
crashed late in the session at Turn
10 while vying for pole. LCR Hon-
da’s Cal Crutchlow and Lorenzo
rounded out the top 10.MotoGP Race
Just 24 corners in, the sev-
enth race of 2019 was effectively
decided in Marquez’s favor. What
was supposed to be a five-rider
fight to the finish was soon re-
duced to a runaway, and all be-
cause of an unlikely protagonist.
On Saturday Lorenzo had
promised to “ride more aggres-
sively” from the fourth row of the
grid. The former World Champion
made good his customary lighten-
ing holeshot to pass six riders on
lap one. Armed with soft Michelin
tires front and rear tire, Lorenzo’s
goal was to get to the front im-
mediately. Ending lap one, only
the fast-starting Dovizioso, sur-
prise-package Viñales, and Mar-
quez were ahead of Lorenzo.
But Lorenzo's biggest high as
a Repsol Honda rider was as brief
as it was surprising. In hindsight,
Marquez’s move by Viñales for
second before Turn One and then
Dovizioso at Turn 10 on the sec-
ond lap saved him from disaster.For it was there that Lorenzo tried
to make what would prove to be an
impossible move.
As Marquez slid expertly un-
der Dovizioso, the Italian adopted
a wider line to square off the cor-
ner. By then Lorenzo had already
committed to passing Viñales at
the track’s most treacherous cor-
ner. Seeing his ex-teammate just
ahead as he honed in at an alarm-
ing rate, Lorenzo tucked the front.
Dovizioso was torpedoed instantly
while Viñales—and then Rossi—
were collected while attempting
evasive action.
From five to one in a heart-
beat, and quite possibly the mo-
ment the 2019 World Champion-
ship was decided. It was a new low
in Lorenzo’s deeply troubled 2019
campaign. To his credit, he didn’t
shy away from accepting fault. “No
apology is enough at the moment,”
Lorenzo said before admitting he
had “probably tried to overtake
Maverick in the wrong moment,
in the wrong place.” What’s more,
he acknowledged, “I was too ex-
cited, knowing that I was feeling
good and I just felt that I could go
faster and faster.”
Rossi shrugged it off as a rac-
ing incident. “It’s a great shame
but sometimes this can happen,”
Rossi said. Dovizioso accepted
Lorenzo’s apology soon after but
bluntly stated, “That doesn’t
change anything.” Viñales was
more seething in his judgment,
declaring, “It was a rookie mis-
take from a five-time World Cham-
pion.” He and Dovizioso called on
FIM Stewards to impose a penalty,
but their calls weren’t heeded.
The pile-up left Marquez one
second clear of Petrucci, Miller,
Rins, Quartararo, Crutchlow, and
rookie Joan Mir on the second
ECSTAR Suzuki. Knowing his soft
rear tire wouldn’t be at its best
toward the end of the race, World
Champion Marquez put his head
down. For four consecutive laps
he bettered his personal best lap
time, peaking on lap five.
“In practice Petrucci was
not one of the fastest guys,” said
Marquez on seeing the Italian was
second. “I thought, ‘Just continue
pushing, even if the gap was al-
ready big, because I knew Quar-
tararo was very fast in the last
part of the race.”
If Lorenzo had unwittingly
helped Marquez, Petrucci proved
to be the perfect wingman. Rins
repeatedly attacked the Ducati
rider only to lose ground on the
front straight. Eventually, the
Spaniard was reduced to frus-
tration and a string of desperate
late-braking attempts, blaming a
defective rear tire.
“I was faster than Petrucci
going in, but then on the accelera-
tion, we lost a lot for the tire,” said(Above) With Marc Marquez well ahead, Petronas Yamaha SRT's Fabio Quartararo (20) beat Ducati's Danilo
Petrucci (9) to finish second in the MotoGP race at Catalunya. (Below) Quartararo and Marquez on the podium.
Roadracing World, August 2019—43