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Circuito de Jerez

  • Marc Marquez won the Spanish MotoGP 2019.

  • Polesitter Fabio Quartararo had gone as high up as 2nd but had to retire with mechanical problems.

  • Alex Rins finished 2nd on the Suzuki.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) won the Spanish MotoGP 2019 race convincingly, but it was a heartache for Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamah SRT).

Staring from 3rd on the grid, Marquez blasted into the lead with the two Petronas Yamaha SRT riders, polesitter Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli trailing behind into Turn 1.

As Marquez controlled the race from the front, both satellite Yamaha riders followed closely. But on Lap 8, the reigning world champion upped his pace and started to drop the pursuing duo.

But it wasn’t long before Morbidelli’s started dropping into the clutches of his teammate Quartararo and Maverick Vinalez (Monster Energy Yamaha). Quartararo passed Morbidelli in the next lap and hunted down Marquez. Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) once again rode his way up the field and passed Vinalez for 4th.

Alex Rins – Photo credit MotoGP.com

Although the Frenchman was only 0.1s slower than Marquez, the latter had opened up a 2-second lead.

Suddenly, Quartararo’s bike began to slow on Lap 16 and he pulled off the circuit to a stop. It was revealed later that his quickshifter had broken. With no way to reset the system to manual shifting, his and the team’s dream evaporated underneath the Spanish sunshine.

In the meantime, his Petronas Yamaha teammate Morbidelli started to slow drastically down the order to 6th. Rins had overtaken him by that point into 2nd while Vinalez had to defend from Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati).

Maverick Vinalez – Photo credit MotoGP.com

Vinalez held on to his nerve and position at the flag to complete the podium positions.

Dovizioso finished 4th, followed by his teammate Danilo Petrucci to complete the Top 5.

Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) worked his way up to 6th after a disastrous qualifying which saw him starting from 13th on the grid. Morbidelli finally crossed the line in 7th; Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) in 8th; his teammate Takaaki Nakagami in 9th; and wildcard rider Stefan Bradl rounded out the Top 10.

It was a race to forget for KTM as the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders Pol Espargaro came home in 13th followed by his teammate Johann Zarco in 14th. The Red Bull KTM Tech 3 Racing riders Miguel Oliveira took the flag in 18th in front of Hafiz Syahrin in 19th.

All pictures from MotoGP.com

  • Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli qualified 1st and 2nd at the Spanish MotoGP 2019.

  • It was the first pole position and 1-2 qualifying result for the new Petronas Yamaha SRT team.

  • Quartararo also became the youngest rider to score a pole position.

Rookie Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli qualified 1st and 2nd for today’s Spanish MotoGP. It was the first 1-2 qualifying result for the new Petronas Yamaha SRT outfit.

The results gave the fledgling team much to cheer about in just their fourth race. Both riders had been strong through the practice sessions, with Quartararo setting the leading pace.

In doing so, it was the first pole position in MotoGP for the youngster. Additionally, it reset the records as the youngest rider to achieve the feat, which was formerly held by Marc Marquez.ni

Speaking to MotoGP.com, Quartararo said that he had improved his braking from being his weakest point to his strongest.

Fabio Quartararo – Photo credit MotoGP.com

The Petronas Yamaha SRT team is using the same 2019 Yamaha YZR-M1 as the Monster Energy Yamaha factory team, but they are the B-spec bikes with lower rev limits.

Quartararo’s time of 1:36.880s was almost 8/10 quicker than the old record 1:37.653s set by Cal Crutchlow in 2018.

Morbidelli put in his fastest lap of 1:36.962s, followed by Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) at 1:36.970s, just 0.008s behind to round out the Top 3.

Andrea Doviziso (Mission Winnow Ducati) did well to qualify in 4th with a time of 1:37.018s despite the Ducati Desmosedici’s traditional dislike of the Jerez Circuit’s layout.

Marc Marquez – Photo credit MotoGP.com

Maverick Viñalez (Monster Energy Yamaha) had struggled throughout the first three practice sessions but managed to qualify 5th. The M1 still displaying a sensitivity to changing conditions. Qualifying was carried in cooler temperatures which benefitted the tyres.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati).

The first 16 riders qualified faster than the previous year’s lap record, showing how far MotoGP progresses by the year.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) took his second MotoGP win of the season in front of his home crowd.

Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, and Dani Pedrosa all crashed out whilst fighting for second place.

Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took the crash as an advantage by finishing on the podium.

This year’s Spanish GP certainly did not disappoint the hundreds of thousands of fans congregating at the Circuito de Jerez. In front of his home crowd, Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda secured his second win of the year and also the championship lead with a very significant gap. (more…)

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