Jorge Lorenzo had been fully expected to win the MotoGP class at the San Marino GP after yesterday’s magnificent qualifying, in which he broke the track record twice over.
But it was a different scene during the morning’s warm-up session when Marc Marquez was the fastest, followed closely by the Ducati factory pairing of Andrea Dovizioso and pole-sitter Lorenzo.
That was not the full news, however, as the times of the top 11 riders were covered by less than 1 second.
There was also hope of a revival for the Movistar Yamaha factory team after Maverick Vinalez put his bike third on the grid.
Lorenzo shot into the lead during at the start, trailed by his teammate Dovizioso and the rest of the field. Dovi then started to shadow Lorenzo and finally overtook him on Lap 4. Behind them, Marquez fought his way through the group of riders to break free into third. He rode as hard as he could and caught the Lorenzo midway through the race.
Dovi meanwhile, rode a steady race and started to open up a gap until he was 1.8 seconds ahead of the chasing two.
Marquez made his move on Lorenzo with some fifteen laps to go, but Lorenzo fought back tenaciously. They kept passing and repassing each other but it was Lorenzo who finally made his overtake stick and started to close down on his Ducati teammate with 8 laps to go.
But Dovi managed to react to Lorenzo’s push. Behind him, Lorenzo was in turn pushed on by Marquez. Lorenzo decided to push harder and attempt to catch Dovi but made a mistake and low-sided his bike with two laps to go, handing 2nd place to Marquez.
Cal Crutchlow had broken free and finished on the final step of the podium.
Alex Rins battled with with his ex-Suzuki teammate Vinalez and prevailed to finish 4th. Pedrosa rode a quiet race to finish 6th while Rossi crossed the line in a lowly 7th.
Marquez extends his championship lead with 201 points, from Valentino Rossi who has 142 and Jorge Lorenzo with 130 points.
Moto3 racing never fails to provide the best racing and it did not disappoint at San Marino, ultimately seeing Lorenzo Della Porta winning his maiden category victory.
The drama started when five riders came together in a horrific crash at the end of the very first lap which claimed Nicolo Bulega, Aaron Canet, Auyumu Sasaki, Jaume Masia and Enea Bastianini. Canet and Sasaki were sent to the mobile medical centre for check-ups, but thankfully all riders were okay.
The pile up also allowed the front five consisting of championship contenders Marco Bezzecchi, Jorge Martin besides Lorenzo Della Porta, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gabriel Rodrigo to break away.
The five battled incessantly throughout the race with multiple lead changes which became fiercer and fiercer as the laps wound down. All riders were involved in one aggressive pass after another; all the while Bezzecchi and Martin were trying to contend with each other for the championship.
But everything changed when Bezzecchi’s rear tyre broke loose and the bike almost highsided him into the gravel trap with just two corners to go to start the last lap. It was the Italian rider’s third crash while leading the last lap this season, the other two being at Le Mans, France and Assen, The Netherlands. His crash had effectively handed the championship lead over to Jorge Martin.
However, it was not the end of drama. Fabio Di Giannantonio had overshot a corner with two laps to go and was relegated to the back of the group. He ended up riding like a man possessed to catch the group. As Della Porta led the last lap into the last turn, Di Giannantionio lunged up the inside. But it appeared that the former kept his throttle pinned through the corner. While this was happening, Martin snuck through on the left side of both riders. It was a three-way charge to the line!
The results took a while to appear. When it did, it was Della Porta who crossed the line in 1st, by just 0.058s from Martin. Di Giannantionio lost out after his audacious move as he had to hold back on his throttle lest he ran wide and finished 3rd.
Malaysian rider Adam Norrodin finished in 12th.
Jorge Martin now leads the championship with 166 points from Marco Bezzecchi with 158 and Fabio Di Giannantonio with 138 points each.
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