MotoGP

Marquez Takes Charge with Aragon Victory

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The podium finishers at Aragon (Photo Credit: Michelin)

Marc Marquez seized control of the MotoGP championship battle with victory in the Aragon Grand Prix. The reigning champion saw off a fast-finishing Dani Pedrosa and early leader Jorge Lorenzo to take his fifth win of the season, opening up a sixteen-point lead over Andrea Dovizioso who toiled home in seventh.

With the two Movistar Yamaha riders making messy starts, Lorenzo stormed into the lead at turn one but polesitter Maverick Vinales appeared unable to give chase as Valentino Rossi immediately grabbed second. With Vinales struggling for pace in the early laps, a leading group of four emerged as Lorenzo led Rossi, Dovizioso and Marquez.

Marc was visibly aggressive in his attempts to climb up the order, outbraking himself into turn twelve on the ninth lap in a move which almost wiped Lorenzo out, but the Repsol Honda rider finally hit the front for the first time on lap sixteen, outbraking the Ducati into the very same corner.

As Rossi and Dovizioso both struggled for late-race pace, fifth-placed Dani Pedrosa was starting to emerge as a real threat, lapping faster than anyone else on track. Dovizioso was deprived of fourth on lap fifteen before a tiring Rossi lost his grip on a podium position eight laps from the end, Dani powering past on the back straight.

Despite his best efforts, Lorenzo couldn’t hold his compatriot back either and with just over two laps remaining, Pedrosa repeated his team-mate’s earlier move to secure Repsol Honda’s third 1-2 of the season. Lorenzo followed them home in third for his first podium since Jerez while Vinales’ patience was rewarded with fourth, just ahead of his team-mate.

Aleix Espargaro demonstrated the Aprilia’s ability to preserve its tyres once again, beating Dovizioso to sixth, while Alvaro Bautista, Johann Zarco and KTM’s Pol Espargaro rounded out the top ten.

 

2017 Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon – Result

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