Catalunya MotoGP 2019 Archives

Catalunya MotoGP: Marc Marquez Wins as Jorge Lorenzo Brings Down Competition

Marc Marquez rode to his fourth victory of the season at the Catalunya MotoGP.
His Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo brought down three other riders who were challenging Marquez for the lead.
Fabio Quartararo secured his and Petronas Sepang Racing Team’s maiden podium finish.

Marc Marquez rode to his fourth victory of the season at the Catalunya MotoGP, after dodging the carnage behind him. His Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo brought down three other riders who were challenging Marquez for the lead.

Mission Winnow Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso was leading the charge into the “bus stop” Turn 10, but Marquez outbraked him, causing him to take a wider line into the corner. Behind them, Lorenzo was slipstreamed the three riders in front of him and outbraked Maverick Vinalez who was behind Dovizioso. Going for the gap, Lorenzo suddenly found the Ducati man sweeping back towards the apex, so he hit his front brakes and went down, clipping Dovizioso’s rear wheel. Both the Ducati and Honda then slid into Vinalez’s Monster Energy Yamaha, sending clattering off the track.

Valentino Rossi who was following closely in fifth had nowhere to go and ran over Lorenzo’s Honda. He remounted his Yamaha and rode back to the pits and out of the race.

That bowling session allowed Marquez to escape the intentions of his closest pursuers and he held on to the lead all the way to the chequered flag. The win increased his championship lead over Dovizioso to 37 points, up from just 12.

Behind him, a fierce tussle developed among Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati), Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) and pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Sepang Racing Team).

It was clearly apparent that the Petrucci’s Ducati was much slower in mid-corner compared to the Suzuki and Yamaha, as they closed right back in after Petrucci opened up a gap on the straights. At one point, a frustrated Rins lunged aggressively inside Petrucci, putting tyre marks on the latter’s suit’s right sleeve and shoulder.

Rins kept up the pressure but Petrucci would not yield, until the former ran into a turn too fast and almost outbraked himself into a highside. Rins fell back to 7^thand fought his way back up to 4^th, eventually.

With Petrucci’s tyres spent in defending from Rins, Quartararo pounced. Quartararo had secured his second pole of the season on Saturday but was again out-dragged into the first corner at the start. Aggressive riders then pushed him down to as far as 9^th. But he kept his patience and prevailed to score his and team’s maiden MotoGP podium, in their very first season.

Petrucci followed Quartararo in 3^rdfor his 3^rdpodium in three races. Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) fought up the field to finish 5^th, escaping Cal Crutchlow’s (LCR Honda) aggressive push (the Englishman crashed immediately after overtaking Miller).

In 6^thwas Rins’s teammate Joan Mir. It was his best finish of the season. Pol Espargaro once again did well to finish in a high position for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in 7^th. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) was the top independent Honda rider again in 8^th. A resurgent Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Ducati) came home in 9^th. Johann Zarco finally finished in the Top 10 on the other Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bike.

There were only three other finishers, Andrea Iannone (Factory Aprilia Gresini), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Ecstar).

11 riders did not take the checkered flag.

Fabio Quartararo and Petronas Sepang Racing Team Secures Second Pole in Catalunya MotoGP

Rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo put himself and his Petronas Sepang Racing Team on pole for tomorrow’s Catalunya MotoGP.
It’s the fledgling team’s second pole position in their very first season in the premier class.
There are four Yamahas in the Top 5.

Rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo put himself and his Petronas Sepang Racing Team on pole for tomorrow’s Catalunya MotoGP.

It’s the fledgling team’s second pole position in their very first season in the premier class. What made the French youngster’s feat even more astounding was his arm pump surgery just 11 days ago. On top of that, bear in mind that he’s riding the 2018-spec Yamaha YZR-M1.

It’s also noteworthy that this round seems to show Yamaha’s resurgence. Quartararo, Maverick Vinalez (Monster Energy Yamaha), Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi made it 1-3-4,5 for Yamaha. Only Marc Marquez was cheeky enough to slot into second among them.

Marquez is the crowd’s home hero but had posted times no faster than 2^ndthrough FP4 and the beginning of Q2. But on the last flying lap of the session, he hung on to Rossi’s coattail for a tow reminiscent of his act of slipstreaming Andrea Dovizioso in Mugello two weeks ago. However, he made a mistake and hit a turn too fast, causing the front tyre to wash out. He saved the bike with his knee, but it ruined his chances of stealing the pole position.

It was visible that Maverick Vinalez was riding hard since Friday and he did enough to put himself in 3^rd, thereby saving the factory Yamaha team from being embarrassed by the satellite team (again).

Franco Morbidelli was also a hero for the Petronas SRT outfit. A heavy crash in the morning saw him stretchered off the kitty litter. That meant that he had to fight his way through Q1. And fought he did by going fastest in the session to be promoted to Q2. He then set the second fastest time behind Quartararo on their first outing together, before being relegated to fourth.

Valentino Rossi had his best qualifying session in a long time and after the disaster in his home race in Mugello.

Apart from Marquez, all Honda and Ducati riders suffered at the track. Catalunya features tight, decreasing radius turns that benefit bikes with mid-corner speed and ability to hold tight lines. This played into the hands of Yamaha and Suzuki.

Dovizisio (Mission Winnow Ducati) could only manage sixth on the grid, with his teammate Danilo Petrucci behind him in 7^th. Dovizioso had remarked many times that the Ducati Desmosedici doesn’t like to keep turning in mid-corner.

Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) actually posted 0.200s faster than Quartararo after the third sector but crashed at Turn 10. Yet, he still qualified 8^thon the grid – his best starting position ever. His teammate Joan Mir also performed well this time around, starting tomorrow’s race from 11^th.

Cal Crutchlow ended the session in 9^th, while Jorge Lorenzo qualified in the Top 10 for the first time since he joined Honda.

Quartararo has shown that he has the speed in qualifying shootouts but has yet to convert his strong qualifying into podium positions. It all came down to the 2018 YZR-M1’s appetite in chewing up the rear tyre over a race distance. The 2019 YZR-M1, on the other hand, lacks top speed but Catalunya may just prove to be the venue to break their duck.

Bikesrepublic