Rins. “When I overtook him, I tried
to push for two laps, but it was
impossible to open the small gap
because of this feeling. During all
the weekend, we were very strong
in the last sector, and during the
race, we lost a lot of time there. So
we need to analyze this well.”
All the time, Marquez’s lead
grew, up to 5.4 seconds on lap 17,
and he then cruised to his fourth
win of 2019. “Now it looks like ev-
erything is easy,” Marquez said.
“But it isn’t. We are pushing. To-
day I had to take a lot of risks.”
Rins’ issues culminated in
a massive rear-end slide when
attempting to out-brake Petruc-
ci at Turn One on lap 18. He re-
joined the track at the back of a
six-rider freight train with his
hopes of a podium gone. With the
lead Suzuki out of his way, it took
Quartararo little time to make his
move. Barging under Petrucci at
Turn Four, Quartararo gave chase
to the slowing Marquez. But it was
too little, too late.
Still, second—a first Moto-
GP podium—only 11 days after
surgery was amazing. “It was a
tough race because the Ducatis
and Suzuki on the straight was
really fast,” Quartararo said. “In
the first sector I managed to over-
take Danilo. I needed to make a
gap during the sectors so I wasn’t
overtaken on the straight. We
managed it well.”
Petrucci was delighted with
third in conditions that so of-
ten saw him come undone in the
past. “I was not one of the fastest
this weekend, unfortunately. We
struggled since Friday morning
with lack of traction on the rear
and lack of grip. Anyway, I do my
best for solve the problem.”
Rins recovered to fourth,
passing Miller on the final lap.
Both benefited from Crutchlow’s
crash at Turn Four on lap 19. Mir
collected a personal best of sixth,
seven seconds behind the winner.
Pol Espargaró was seventh, ahead
of Takaaki Nakagami, and Tito
Rabat, who scored his first top-10
since breaking a leg in three plac-
es during last year’s British Grand
Prix. There was some light relief
for the beleaguered Johann Zarco,
who managed his first top-10 fin-
ish on his Red Bull KTM.Alex Marquez Takes
Control In Moto2Alex Marquez used his Marc
VDS Kalex to cruise to a third-
straight win and assume control
in the Moto2 World Champion-
ship. But the younger Marquez
had to work for this one.
Thomas Luthi made the early
break on his Dynavolt Intact Kalex
with pole-sitter Augusto Fernan-
dez and his Pons Kalex just be-
hind. Marquez, meanwhile, was
playing catch up after qualifying
sixth, disposing of Fernandez on
lap eight before easing by Luthi
six laps later.
From there, Marquez finished
1.9 seconds clear of Luthi, his clos-
est title rival. “It was difficult to
control and starting from the sec-
ond row wasn’t easy,” said Mar-
quez. “But I knew this was a race
to be constant and not to make any
mistakes.” Speed Up’s Jorge Navar-
ro rallied late to take third. Amer-
ican Racing KTM’s Joe Roberts
took a disappointed 20th as KTM’s
struggles in Moto2 continued.Ramirez Makes It Seven Win-
ners In Seven Moto3 Races!The Moto3 race was wild,
with 11 crashes, two retirees from
the lead, and a seventh winner in
as many races.
Title contenders Lorenzo Dal-
la Porta on a Leopard Honda and
Tony Arbolino on a Snipers Rac-
ing Honda were both undone by
mechanical failure, leaving Hon-
da Team Asia's Kaito Toba, Max
Racing KTM’s Aron Canet, Leop-
ard Honda’s Marcos Ramirez,
Petronas Sprinta Honda’s John
McPhee, and Estrella Galicia
Honda’s Alonso Lopez to lead an
18-rider train.
It all came down to Turn 10
on the final lap. Toba lost the front
when attempting to stay ahead,
Ramirez out-braked Canet, and
McPhee saved a high-side of epic
proportions as he attempted to
squirt under all of them. Ramirez
won from Canet with Celestino
Vietti on a Sky Racing VR46 KTM
nicking third from a despondent
Lopez at the final turn.RESULTS
MOTOGP RACE (All on Michelin Tires)
(June 16): 1. Marc Marquez, Spain (Hon
RC213V), 24 laps, 40:31.175, 102.153
mph; 2. Fabio Quartararo, France (Yam
YZR-M1), -2.660 seconds; 3. Danilo
Petrucci, Italy (Duc GP19), -4.537; 4.
Alex Rins, Spain (Suz GSX-RR), -6.602;- Jack Miller, Australia (Duc GP18),
-6.870; 6. Joan Mir, Spain (Suz GSX-
RR), -7.040; 7. Pol Espargaró, Spain
(KTM RC16), -16.144; 8. Takaaki Nak-
agami, Japan (Hon RC213V), -17.969;
9.Tito Rabat (Duc GP18), -22.661; 10.
Johann Zarco, France (KTM RC16),
-26.228; 11. Andrea Iannone, Italy
(Apr RS-GP), -32.036; 12. Miguel Ol-
iveira, Portugal (KTM RC16), -44.666;- Sylvain Guintoli, France (Suz GSX-
RR), -51.363; 14. Cal Crutchlow, Great
Britain (Hon RC213V), -6 laps, DNF,
crash; 15. Franco Morbidelli, Italy (Yam
YZR-M1), -8 laps, DNF, crash; 16. Fran-
cesco Bagnaia, Italy (Duc GP18), -19
laps, DNF, crash; 17. Hafizh Syahrin,
Malaysia (KTM RC16), -21 laps, DNF,
retired; 18. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yam
YZR-M1), -22 laps, DNF, crash; 19. An-
drea Dovizioso, Italy (Duc GP19), -22
laps, DNF, crash; 20. Maverick Viñales,
Spain (Yam YZR-M1), -23 laps, DNF,
crash; 21. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Hon
RC213V), -23 laps, DNF, crash; 22. Aleix
Espargaró, Spain (Apr RS-GP), -23 laps,
DNF, retired; 23. Karel Abraham, Czech
Republic (Duc GP19), -24 laps, DNF,
crash; 24. Bradley Smith, Great Brit-
ain (Apr RS-GP), -24 laps, DNF, crash.
Race Distance, 24 laps, 69.002 miles;
Race Time, 40 minutes, 31.175 seconds;
Race Average Speed, 102.153 mph; Vic-
tory Margin, 2.660 seconds; Fastest Lap,
Marquez, 1:40.507, 102.961 mph, Lap 5.
MOTO GP QUALIFYING (June 15): 1.
Quartararo, 1:39.484, 104.017 mph; 2.
Marquez, 1:39.499; 3. Viñales, 1:39.710; - Morbidelli, 1:39.711; 5. Rossi, 1:39.753;
- Dovizioso, 1:39.777; 7. Petrucci,
1:39.844; 8. Rins, 1:39.870; 9. Crutchlow,
1:40.151; 10. Lorenzo, 1:40.199; 11. Mir,
1:40.240; 12. P. Espargaró, 1:40.425; 13.
Bagnaia, 1:40.167; 14. Miller, 1:40.271; - Abraham, 1:40.349; 16. Nakagami,
1:40.362; 17. A. Espargaró, 1:40.000; 18.
Zarco, 1:40.427; 19. Rabat, 1:40.682; 20.
Oliveira, 1:40.752; 21. Syahrin, 1:40.839; - Smith, 1:41.232; 23. Guintoli,
1:41.270; 24. Iannone, 1:41.748.
MOTO GP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
POINT STANDINGS (After 6 of 19
rounds): 1. Marquez, 140 points; 2.
Dovizioso, 103 points; 3. Rins, 101
points; 4. Petrucci, 98 points; 5. Rossi, 72
points; 6. Miller, 53 points; 7. Quartara-
ro, 51 points; 8. Nakagami, 48 points; 9.
P. Espargaró, 47 points; 10. Crutchlow,
42 points.
MOTO2 (All on Dunlop Tires and Tri-
umph Engines) (June 16): 1. Alex Mar-
quez, Spain (Kalex),22 laps, 38:25.678,
98.736 mph; 2. Thomas Luthi, Switzer-
land (Kalex), -1.989 seconds; 3. Jorge
Navarro, Spain (Kalex), -2.532; 4. Au-
gusto Fernandez, Spain (Kalex), -3.802; - Enea Bastianini, Italy (Kalex), -7.472;
- Luca Marini, Italy (Kalex), -13.996;
- Marcel Schrotter, Germany (Kalex),
-14.565; 8. Xavi Vierge, Spain (Kalex),
-14.953; 9. Sam Lowes, Great Britain
(Kalex), -15.898; 10. Tetsuta Nagashima,
Japan (Kalex), -17.947; 11. Brad Binder,
Republic of South Africa (KTM), -20.891; - Andrea Locatelli, Italy (Kalex), -20.930;
- Nicolo Bulega, Italy (Kalex), -22.352;
- Simone Corsi, Italy (Kalex), -25.192;
- Jorge Martin, Spain (KTM), -27.132;
- Dominique Aegerter, Switzerland (MV
Agusta), -30.395; 17. Somkiat Chantra,
Thailand (Kalex), -32.230; 18. Bo Bends-
neyder, Netherlands (NTS), -33.315; 19.
Jonas Folger, Germany (Kalex), -39.441; - Joe Roberts, USA (KTM), -42.600; 21.
Dimas Ekky Pratama, Indonesia (Kalex),
-44.461; 22. Steven Odendaal, Republic
of South Africa (NTS), -47.623; 23. Marco
Bezzecchi, Italy (KTM), -54.911; 24. Lu-
kas Tulovic, Germany (KTM), -59.776; 25.
Xavi Cardelus, Andorra (KTM), -82.064; - Jake Dixon, Great Britain (KTM), -1
lap, DNF, crash; 27. Stefano Manzi, Italy
(Above) Alex Marquez (73) beat Thomas Luthi (12) to win the Moto2
race. (Below) Marcos Ramirez (42) used his Honda to win the Moto3
race from KTM rider Aron Canet (44). Photos by Milagro/DPPI Media.
44—Roadracing World, August 2019