MOTO GP : Rins ousts Marquez by 0.013 to win dramatic British GP

Suzuki star steals victory from Championship leader’s grasp at Woodcote as we witness two big-hitters crash at Turn 1

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) claimed a sensational victory at the GoPro British Grand Prix as he and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) treated us to a phenomenal MotoGP™ race, the Suzuki man eventually beating the Honda rider to the line in a stunning finish. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) picked up P3 but there was drama at the first turn involving Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).

Silverstone was set for a barnstormer, but nobody saw what was coming at the first corner. The lights went out and heading into Copse for the first time, Quartararo’s back end slipped round as the Frenchman reacted to Rins getting out of shape in front of him. Quartararo crashed and unable to take avoiding action, Dovizioso collided with the stricken Petronas Yamaha as two leading race contenders crashed out on Lap 1. Dovi headed to the medical centre for a checkup after landing heavily and was later transported to Coventry hospital, confirmation that Dovi has no broken bones, but he needs further checks after taking a big knock to the head.

Meanwhile, Marquez had got away well from pole and was leading the race from second place Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), with Rins third. The latter didn’t take much time to pass ‘The Doctor’ though and the number 42 slipped into second, with himself and Marquez slowly edging clear of Rossi in third. On Lap 4, the leading duo were over a second clear, with the gap to Rossi stretching lap by lap as Viñales smelt blood on his teammate. Lap 6 ticked by and Viñales pounced, passing Rossi down the Hanger Straight but at this point, Marquez and Rins were over two seconds up the road.

Rins was locked onto the tailpipes of Marquez. Sector one and three looked like the areas where Rins had an edge on the number 93 and on Lap 8, the Suzuki was leading. Coming up the hill from Copse, Marquez sat up slightly to seemingly tell Rins: ‘go on then, you can lead for a bit.’ That didn’t last long however, Rins was wide at Stowe corner and it was Marquez who had the baton once more. There was nothing to separate the pair, with Viñales flirting around the 1.5/2 second margin behind.

MotoGP™ 

✔@MotoGP

A standing ovation for @Rins42!

The @suzukimotogp rider takes in the applause of the Silverstone crowd! #BritishGP

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With four laps remaining, an error. On the exit of the Vale chicane, Rins was out the seat. This dropped Rins 0.6 back to give Marquez some breathing space but would it be the turning point of the Grand Prix? No. Rins reeled in Marquez by the end of the lap as we set ourselves for a tense final three laps. In the meantime, Viñales was still hovering at 1.5 seconds back.

On the penultimate lap, Rins made a move stick. A unique one too, the GSX-RR dived under the RC213V at Turn 15 but immediately, on the Wellington Straight, Marquez blasted back past. Last lap time, nothing between them. But a Yamaha rider was now just 0.5 back from Rins – surely Viñales couldn’t claw this back? A little further down the road, Marquez was on the defensive. Heading into Sector 3 – a place Rins had been strong all race – the Repsol Honda was holding the tight line. No way through at The Loop for Rins, but would Marquez’ run onto the straight be hampered? Seemingly not. Marquez held it into Brooklands – the last real overtaking manoeuvre – but Rins was strong round Luffield and through Woodcote. The lap previous saw Rins get alongside Marquez round the outside at the finish line – Roberts and Sheene esque from 1979 – but was ran wide. At the final corner, Marquez knew Rins had the advantage and tried to cover it off. The Repsol Honda had a slight twitch as Rins took a wide, sweeping line on his Suzuki and spectacularly won the race to the line to win by just 0.013! Later on, Rins revealed he thought it was the last lap on the penultimate lap...

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@Rins42 is fired up after that!

Surely the best victory of his career so far! #BritishGP

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Viñales was close, but not close enough to challenge in third. Rossi’s dreams of a return to winning ways faded as the race went on but nevertheless, ‘The Doctor’ will take the positives from another P4. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had his mentor in sight but couldn’t quite hunt him down, a top-five for the Italian equals his best MotoGP™ result. Home hero Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) takes a P6 away from Silverstone after starting from ninth, the Coventry-born rider held off a late charge from Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and close friend Jack Miller (Pramac Racing). The Ducatis finished seventh and eighth respectively, as Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had the trio in his sights to land KTM a top 10. And completing the top 10 was Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Andrea Iannone – the Italian claiming his best result on board an RS-GP.

Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Miguel Olveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed out at The Loop with 12 to go, with Aleix Esparagro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) the other non-finisher.

A dramatic British GP ends with Rins on top of the world once more. 40 years on, the Suzuki man was able to do what MotoGP™ Legend Sheene couldn’t – pass a reigning World Champion at Woodcote to win at Silverstone. However, Marquez now sits 78 points clear in the Championship standings with Dovizioso’s early exit as we look ahead to San Marino.

Le Top 10 :
1. Álex Rins - (Team Suzuki Ecstar) - 40:12.799
2. Marc Márquez - (Repsol Honda Team) - +0.013
3. Maverick Viñales - (Monster Energy Yamaha) - +0.620
4. Valentino Rossi - (Monster Energy Yamaha) - +11.439
5. Franco Morbidelli - (Petronas Yamaha SRT) - +13.109
6. Cal Crutchlow - (LCR Honda Castrol) - +19.169
7. Danilo Petrucci - (Ducati Team) - +19.682
8. Jack Miller - (Pramac Racing) - +20.318
9. Pol Espargaró - (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) - +21.079
10. Andrea Iannone - (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) - +25.144

Click here for the results! 

via https://www.motogp.com

MotoGP : Lorenzo nouveau leader suite à son triomphe au Mans / Lorenzo produces perfection in crash filled French GP

Le Majorquin s’est offert une très importante victoire en s’imposant sans trouver rival à sa hauteur au Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.

En pole position pour la 63e fois de sa carrière, nouveau record pour le total de pole toutes catégories confondues, après avoir pulvérisé le record du circuit en qualifications, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) s’est de nouveau retrouvé seul au monde en course au Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, qu’il remportait pour la deuxième fois de suite.

Parti comme une fusée depuis la tête de la grille, le Majorquin a été suivi par Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) et Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) sur les premiers tours mais a progressivement creusé l’écart et a petit à petit disparu du champ de vision de ses poursuivants.

Passé devant Dovizioso dans le sixième tour, Iannone est tombé peu après alors qu’il tentait de revenir sur Lorenzo. De retour en seconde position suite à la chute de son coéquipier, Dovizioso a été rattrapé par Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), qui avait perdu beaucoup de temps au départ en se faisant malmener par les frères Pol (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

Une fois débarrassé de ces derniers, l’Italien est rapidement revenu sur les talons de Márquez pour doubler son rival dans le treizième tour et enchaîner en doublant Dovizioso pour passer à la seconde position. Trois tours plus tard, Dovizioso et Márquez sont tombés au Musée (virage n°7) presque en même temps. 

Les chutes synchronisées de Dovizioso, qui abandonnait pour la troisième fois de suite, et de Márquez ont fait les affaires de Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), qui héritait de la troisième place et allait signer son premier podium en MotoGP™, le premier de Suzuki depuis la troisième place de Loris Capirossi à Brno en 2008. 

Vainqueur pour la deuxième fois de l’année alors que Márquez finissait treizième et donc avec seulement trois points, Lorenzo s’emparait de la tête du classement général avec cinq points d’avance sur son compatriote et douze sur Rossi, qui comptait dix secondes de retard sur son coéquipier au moment de passer le drapeau à damier. 

Quatrième à l’arrivée, avec quatre secondes et demie de retard sur Viñales, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) conserve la quatrième place du classement général mais n’a plus que quatre points d’avance sur le pilote Suzuki. 

Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) a de son côté pris la cinquième place, son meilleur résultat depuis le début de la saison, et demeure donc le premier pilote indépendant au classement général. 

Complétaient le Top 10 à l’arribée Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Yakhnich), vainqueur de son duel avec Héctor Barberá (Avintia) pour la septième place, et Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).

Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) et Loris Baz (Avintia Racing) ont quant à eux profité des nombreux abandons, dont ceux de Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich), Yonny Hernández (Aspar MotoGP Team), Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) et Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) pour marquer les points des onzième et douzième places, en finissant devant Márquez. 

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.

Jorge Lorenzo ran away with the French GP, taking a flag-to-flag victory as former championship leader Marc Marquez fell.

Tension hung in the air ahead of the 28-lap Monster Energy Grand Prix de France as riders in the MotoGP™ World Championship sat patiently on the grid. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) had pole ahead of championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and potential podium challenger Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team). Gusts of wind blew across the track as they departed for the Warm Up lap.

Lorenzo made a perfect start as Marquez wheelied off the line, the Yamaha rider leading through the first chicane with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) behind him. Marquez was soon up to fourth as he charged past Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) attempted to follow him through but found himself swamped by the likes of Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

As they crossed the finish line for the first time Lorenzo's lead stood at half a second with Dovizioso and Iannone behind. It was not the start Rossi had wanted, able to make up just a single place from seventh on the grid as the second lap began. Dovizioso, who had seemingly banished his recent bad luck, remained strong in second.

Having started last on the grid, home rider Loris Baz (Avintia Racing) was up to 17th by the fourth lap of the race. Home fans cheered him on with each pass, urging the Frenchman forever forward.

Lap four saw Rossi improve his pace, going half a second quicker than his rival Marc Marquez who was just ahead. The pair weren’t the only ones closing up, Iannone also making significant progress on his teammate. His charge would be halted on lap seven when Iannone fell at Turn 8. Iannone’s fall was followed soon after by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), who suffered his fourth race crash of the year. One lap later, fellow satellite Honda rider Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) came off at Turn 6. Iannone would re-join the race but eventually retired.

Lap 13 saw Rossi slip past on Marc Marquez, making it a three-way battle for second as Lorenzo continued to run away at the head of the race. Just a few corners later Rossi was up into second place and matching Lorenzo’s times.

A thrilling battle for second was brewing until on lap 16 at Turn 7 both Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez crashed at the same time. There was no contact between them, the pair both losing the front in synchronisation. Now Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was on course for his first MotoGP™ podium and Lorenzo on the cusp of taking the championship lead.

The falls continued and soon Marc Marquez was up in 13th place, despite missing a large section of his side fairing. Lorenzo, 7.8 seconds clear with five laps to go, was having no such issues as he calmly ran his own race. With gaps of at least three seconds splitting the top three, each eased their pace to guarantee a finish in the clearly difficult conditions.

For the second time in 2016, Jorge Lorenzo crossed the line in first place after dominating the French GP. Over ten seconds would separate him from Rossi as the race came to an end. It was a day of celebration for both Suzuki and Viñales, the Spaniard taking his first podium finish in the premier class. Viñales’ podium is the first for Suzuki since the 2008 Czech GP, making amends for his mistake in Argentina.

Victory sees Lorenzo move to the top of the championship with 90 points, Marquez forced to concede his advantage after the crash. Rossi stays third and is 12 points behind Lorenzo. Marquez, Lorenzo and Rossi now have a mistake each to their name and with only 12 points between them in the championship; the season is only just getting started. The MotoGP™ World Championship now heads to Mugello, Rossi’s home round but one where Lorenzo has been the man to beat in recent years. Once again it looks set to be a thrilling weekend in the Tuscan hills.

Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) retired from the race early on, followed by Yonny Hernandez (Aspar Team MotoGP) who crashed from the race on lap seven.

While running inside the top ten, Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) suffered a fall, the French GP a war of attrition. Turn 7 claimed yet another victim as Bradley Smith crashed out of his team’s home race.

Full race results can be seen here.

The ever-tightening MotoGP™ World Championship can be viewed here.

via motogp.com