San Marino GP | Dovizioso brings it home ahead of Marquez as Lorenzo crashes out
Andrea Dovizioso bounces back in style and dominates the race in San Marino, finishing ahead of championship leader Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow, after poleman Jorge Lorenzo binned it at three laps to the end.
Andrea Dovizioso capitalizes on home turf following a rather dominant race at Misano. The Italian outpaced teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed out in the closing stages. Such a costly error allowed Marquez to advance to second.
Jorge Lorenzo managed to hold his position at the start, as Marquez jumped from 5th to 3rd right behind Jack Miller in second. Andrea Dovizioso picked up the pace very quickly and overtook both Marquez and Miller within the end of the opening lap. The Italian aimed at chasing down his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who was already opening a gap to the pack.
Jack Miller was pipped by a slightly faster Marquez, who claimed P3 after detatching himself from the Vinales-Rins-Crutchlow-Rossi group. The Alma Pramac rider was fourth when he crashed later on, but he swiftly got back up to try and recover.
Dovizioso’s fiery pace brought him to the race lead, which was extended up to 1.1s from teammate Jorge Lorenzo in second, with Marc Marquez glued to the fellow Spaniard’s tail. Lorenzo started gaining on Dovizioso as the lapcount ticked down to 16. Two laps later Marquez powered to second, as Lorenzo ran wide and left an extra space, allowing the Catalan to sneak on the inside.
In the meantime, Dovizioso stretched his leadership to a comfortable 1.7s on Marquez, who was busy keeping Lorenzo behind. The two engaged in an exciting battle, crossing trajectories and defying physics.
Lorenzo masterfully overtook Marquez at a 250km/h speed to reclaim P2, but the championship leader matched his rival’s pace. The dynamics of the race evolved quickly, as Dovizioso’s pace dropped dramatically at four laps to the end. Lorenzo and Marquez started crunching 1 tenth per sector, but Dovizioso crucially reacted to keep the gap around 1.5s.
Three laps before the very end Lorenzo ruled himself out of the race owing to a costly error. The Spaniard crashed and unintentionally promoted Marc Marquez to second and Cal Crutchlow to third.
Alex Rins finished the race in fourth, ahead of Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales, who started from the front row. Yamaha’s woes go on as home hero Valentino Rossi struggled to keep up with the pace and crossed the line in seventh. Danilo Petrucci finished in P11 after a dramatic start to the formation lap.