MotoGP

Aragon MotoGP: Marc Marquez on brink of title after dominant win

Marc Marquez put one hand on a sixth MotoGP world championship by securing a dominant victory at the Aragon Grand Prix from pole position.

The Honda rider, making his 200th grand prix start, nailed his launch off the line and was already a second clear of the field by the end of the first lap, with no one offering up even a hint of a challenge to his imperious pace.

Fabio Quartararo slotted in behind Marquez off the line on the Petronas SRT Yamaha, with Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller jumping up to third ahead of the works Yamaha of Maverick Vinales.

Miller made light work of Quartararo on the run into Turn 12 on the opening lap for second, with Marquez close to two seconds clear at the front by the third tour.

Quartararo soon came under threat from Vinales, who eventually found a way through by powering past into the Turn 16 hairpin on lap five of the 23.

Once free of the SRT rider, Vinales was able to immediately put some daylight between them and set about hunting down Miller.

The massive speed of the Ducati ensured Miller would remain a stubborn obstacle for Vinales for some time.

He finally found a way through on lap eight, using the superior edge grip of the Yamaha to execute a daring move around the outside of Miller at the Turn 4 kink.

Works Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso would get through on Miller eight laps later, and began to chip away at the one-second gap Vinales held in second.

With five laps to go, Dovizioso had wiped out Vinales’s advantage, and capitalised on a slight mistake from the Yamaha rider through the Turn 14/15 chicane to blast past on the run into Turn 16 two tours later.

Marquez got his lead up to over six seconds in the latter stages to cruise to his eighth win of the season and a 98-point lead over second-placed Dovizioso, which means the upcoming Thailand race will offer up Marquez’s first chance to secure a sixth MotoGP title.

Vinales’s endeavours to take a podium were in vain, as Miller carved past at Turn 1 on the final lap to finish third.

Quartararo was a distant fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow, who narrowly denied Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro a first top six finish in a year.

Valentino Rossi faded to eighth on the second works Yamaha, with Alex Rins recovering from a long lap penalty awarded to him for wiping SRT’s Franco Morbidelli out at Turn 12 on lap one to claim ninth ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Nakagami prevailed in a fierce fight with Andrea Iannone (Aprilia), Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci and Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira, while Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Avintia’s Tito Rabat rounded out the points.

Jorge Lorenzo was a factor for points early on, but the Honda rider faded to 20th in the end behind Aprilia wildcard Bradley Smith.

Mika Kallio’s first race in place of the ousted Johann Zarco at KTM ended with a 17th-place finish, with team-mate Pol Espargaro a non-starter after fracturing his wrist in a crash on Saturday.

Race result

Pos Rider Team Laps Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda 23 41m57.221s
2 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 23 4.836s
3 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati 23 5.430s
4 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 23 5.811s
5 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha 23 8.924s
6 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 23 10.390s
7 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 23 10.441s
8 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 23 23.623s
9 Alex Rins Suzuki 23 27.998s
10 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda 23 31.242s
11 Andrea Iannone Aprilia 23 32.624s
12 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 23 33.043s
13 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM 23 33.063s
14 Joan Mir Suzuki 23 33.363s
15 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati 23 36.358s
16 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati 23 41.295s
17 Mika Kallio KTM 23 42.983s
18 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati 23 43.880s
19 Bradley Smith Aprilia 23 44.279s
20 Jorge Lorenzo Honda 23 46.087s
21 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM 23 47.308s
Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha 0 Retirement
Pol Espargaro KTM 0 Withdrawn

Riders’ standings

Pos Rider Points
1 Marc Marquez 300
2 Andrea Dovizioso 202
3 Alex Rins 156
4 Danilo Petrucci 155
5 Maverick Vinales 147
6 Valentino Rossi 137
7 Fabio Quartararo 123
8 Jack Miller 117
9 Cal Crutchlow 98
10 Franco Morbidelli 80
11 Pol Espargaro 77
12 Takaaki Nakagami 68
13 Joan Mir 49
14 Aleix Espargaro 46
15 Andrea Iannone 32
16 Francesco Bagnaia 29
17 Miguel Oliveira 29
18 Johann Zarco 27
19 Jorge Lorenzo 23
20 Tito Rabat 18
21 Stefan Bradl 16
22 Michele Pirro 9
23 Sylvain Guintoli 7
24 Hafizh Syahrin 7
25 Karel Abraham 5
26 Bradley Smith 0
27 Mika Kallio 0

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