MotoGP: Mugello race results

POLE position man Valentino Rossi had his chances scuppered at the Mugello Grand Prix after his YZR-M1 blew its engine leaving Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez to fight it out for the win.

For the first time since 2008, Rossi lined up on pole position at Mugello with thousands of Italian’s lining the stands to see if ‘The Doctor’ could take the chequered flag first, but it wasn’t to be.

Rossi’s Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo made a fantastic start to lead into Turn 1 after starting fifth on the grid. Maverick Vinales on the other hand dropped right down the order to 11th.

Jack Miller, Alvaro Bautista and Loris Baz all came together at the first corner and crashed out of the race before it had really even begun and the trio were forced to retire as Baz headed to the medical centre.

Every lap Rossi attempted to pass Lorenzo into Turn 1, but Lorenzo remained in charge thanks to his incredible performance under braking. Their battle had allowed Repsol Honda’s Marquez to close down the Yamaha pair with the trio being separated by under half a second.

Further down the field Iannone and Vinales recovered from poor starts as they shot past Scott Redding down the end straight, proving the power of both the Ducati and the Suzuki, to put themselves into seventh and eighth.

It was lap eight where things started to go wrong for the much-loved Italian. A technical issue developed and the Italian dropped down to ninth, then blue smoke appeared, then Rossi retired.
Regardless of Rossi’s retirement, the race went on with Marquez right behind Lorenzo at mid-race distance. Their battle wasn’t the only one as Iannone’s comeback from a poor start continued as he found himself behind his team-mate Dovizioso and battling for third.

Iannone eventually got passed his Italian team-mate and moved into third on the 17th lap, but Dovizioso soon responded. Dani Pedrosa had also closed in and a mistake from Dovizioso cost him a podium position.

On lap 20 Marquez launched his first attack, but ran wide allowing Lorenzo to hang onto the lead. Marquez passed Lorenzo at the start of the final lap, but Lorenzo responded again.

Marquez looked to have the race under control as they exited the final corner one after the other, but his front wheel began to lift and Lorenzo was able to grab an incredible photo finish victory by 0.019s.

Pedrosa and Iannone’s battle also went down to the final lap with Iannone coming home first by 0.168s and returning to the podium once again. Seventh place saw Bradley Smith finish as the top Independent Team rider instead of his team-mate Pol Espargaro who finished 15th.

Notably third place Iannone set a new top speed record today during the Mugello MotoGP race as he hit a huge 354.9km/h.

Race results:

1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:36.535
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team 41:36.554 (+0.019)
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 41:41.277 (+4.742)
4. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 41:41.445 (+4.910)
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 41:42.791 (+6.256)
6. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:45.205 (+8.670)
7. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41:49.875 (+13.340)
8. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Yakhnich 41:51.133 (+14.598)
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:55.178 (+18.643)
10. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team 41:58.833 (+22.298)
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda 42:04.471 (+27.936)
12. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 42:12.240 (+35.712)
13. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 42:14.567 (+38.032)
14. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini 42:16.629 (+40.094)
15. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42:36.346 (+59.811)
16. Yonny Hernandez COL Aspar MotoGP Team 42:40.932 (+1:04.397)
DNF. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
DNF.Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Yakhnich
DNF. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
DNF. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini
DNF. Loris Baz FRA Avintia Racing