Marquez clears off for Aragon MotoGP victory ahead of Dovizioso
Marc Marquez storms to a lights-to-flag victory at the Aragon MotoGP to move within touching distance of the world title
Full Aragon MotoGP race results
Marc Marquez has eased to a lights-to-flag victory at the Aragon MotoGP to extend his advantage in the championship to 98 points on Andrea Dovizioso who recovered to reach the rostrum.
The Repsol Honda rider had demonstrated unmatchable pace in practice at MotorLand Aragon before storming to pole position and the reigning MotoGP world champion duly converted it into victory with a comfortable margin over all of his rivals.
Maverick Vinales led the charge behind Marquez for the majority of the race after recovering from dropping to fourth place behind Jack Miller sprinting into the first turn.
Having found greater race pace, Vinales made quick work of passing Fabio Quartararo and Miller to move into second place but was powerless to reel in Marquez ahead of him.
Vinales endured a nightmare final three laps with apparent grip issues as his pace dropped badly which allowed Dovizioso to skate into second place before Miller doubled up the Spaniard’s pain to take the final rostrum spot at the start of the final lap.
The result sees Marquez push his MotoGP world championship lead to 98 points meaning if he takes two more points than Dovizioso in Thailand he will wrap up the world title at the next round.
With Vinales having to settle for fourth place the factory Yamaha rider did keep clear of Quartararo in fifth place with LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow taking sixth place further back.
Aleix Espargaro took a creditable seventh place for Aprilia in front of the factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi who struggled throughout the Aragon race.
Alex Rins produced a home race full of highlights for the wrong reasons. The Suzuki rider rubbed fairings with team-mate Joan Mir around the opening corners before colliding with Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli at Turn 12 on the first lap, sending the Italian rider off, which earnt Rins a Long Lap penalty.
Despite his dreadful opening lap, Rins fought back to ninth place at the chequered flag with half of his aerodynamic front fairing missing from his Suzuki.
Takaaki Nakagami surged up to 10th place late on for LCR Honda ahead of Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone, Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci and Tech3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.
Joan Mir also finished the race with half of his Suzuki front fairing to take 14th place as Tito Rabat grabbed the final point for Avintia Ducati.
With Francesco Bagnaia in 16th place, the lone Red Bull KTM rider of Mika Kallio reached 17th place on his 2019 race debut as Johann Zarco’s replacement for the rest of the season.
Karel Abraham secured 18th place for Avintia Ducati in front of Aprilia wildcard Bradley Smith with Repsol Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo suffering further ignominy down in 20th place – only finishing ahead of Hafizh Syahrin on the Tech3 KTM.
