MotoGP 2018 in Valencia Spain

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MotoGP 2018 in Valencia Spain
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MotoGP 2018 in Valencia Spain

MotoGP 2018 in Valencia (Spain)
Race in Valencia: Ducati with crowning season finale

In an extremely exciting season finale, Andrea Dovizioso drives to the last victory of the year. Pol Espagaro shows his fighting spirit and gives KTM its first MotoGP podium despite a crash. Rossi loses top results again.

Michael Praschak

11/17/2018

While the qualifying was held on a dry track on Saturday, the drivers had to make do with a completely wet track on Sunday. While the Moto3 and Moto2 races in the run-up to MotoGP had resulted in less water on the track and a lot of MotoGP teams on rain tires in the medium compound had been on the grid, repeated rain shortly before the start of the race led to hectic changes to the soft tires and to start as a wet race.

Alex Rins coped best with the conditions. Coming from second place, the Spanish Suzuki driver took the lead from Maverick Vinales before turn one and immediately pulled away. Behind them, Pol Espagaro also put pressure forward and fought for third place with Andrea Dovizioso. Valentino Rossi, who only qualified for starting position 16, made perfect use of the adverse circumstances and was already in 10th place at the end of the first lap.

Behind Rins, Andrea Dovizioso from Maverick Vinales took second place on the second lap, shortly afterwards Marc Marquez and Pol Espagaro also passed the Spaniard. On lap four, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller also overtook the Yamaha rider. Things went better for Vinale’s team-mate Valentino Rossi at this point and on lap five Vale pushed the second Yamaha rider into eighth place.

Rain stops the race


MotoGP 2018 in Valencia Spain


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Pol Espagaro crashed in the first half of the race and benefited from the abandonment of the race

From lap five it was the increasingly heavy rain that shaped the events. The first victim was Jack Miller in sixth place, who sank his Ducati in the Spanish gravel. The Pramac rider only opened one series of falls, which subsequently also fell victim to Miller’s team-mate Danilo Petrucci, Pol Espagaro (KTM) and Marc Marquez. While Espagaro was able to continue the journey on his KTM, the race was over for the world champion.

The beneficiary was Valentino Rossi, who was not only pushed up to third place by the falls on the partially flooded track, but was also able to close the gap to Andrea Dovizioso and Alex Rins at the top. For Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli it looked shortly afterwards as if they could catch up with the leaders. Shortly before the middle of the race, these two went down as well. As a result of the many falls, the race was then canceled. Since only half of the race distance had been covered, the Grand Prix was restarted as a sprint race over thirteen laps.

The starting grid for the restart then corresponded to the racing status at the end of lap thirteen with Alex Rins, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi on the first row of the grid. Alex Rins made the best start again, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, and Pol Espagaro, who had crashed in the first race, took advantage of the restart and came out of the first corner in fifth place.

Rins’ joy at the lead only lasted for a short time. Andrea Dovizioso already passed the Suzuki driver on lap two and then did not give up the lead.

While the group of three made up of Dovizioso, Rins and Rossi was able to pull out of the lead and Pol Espagaro and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) were fighting for fourth place, test driver Michele Pirro, a second Ducati rider, worked his way through the top ten and snapped himself in Round seven goes to Dani Pedrosa, who is fifth. At the same time, Alvaro Bautista was handed back and fell in tenth place in the middle of the race. Shortly afterwards, Valentino Rossi also went down. The Italian was able to line up again in thirteenth place, but with his fall cleared the way for Pol Espagaro’s first podium on KTM in MotoGP.


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Stefan Bradl drove as a replacement for Cal Crutchlow for Team LCR and finished the race in ninth place.

Michele Pirro also benefited from Rossi’s mishap and finished fourth behind Pol Espagaro. In the end, fifth place went to Dani Pedrosa, who ended his career with a conciliatory result after a weak second half of the season. Takaaki Nakagami should also be more than satisfied, who was able to achieve his best result of the season in sixth place ahead of Johan Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha) and Bradley Smith (KTM). Cal Crutchlow replacement Stefan Bradl (LCR) and Hafiz Syharin (Tech3 Yamaha) complete the top ten.

position  No. driver motorcycle team Points
1 # 04 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 25th
2 # 42 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 20th
3 # 44 Pol Espagaro KTM KTM 16
4th # 51 Michele Pirro Ducati Ducati 13th
5 # 26 Dani Pedrosa Honde Repsol Honda 11
6th # 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda LCR 10
7th # 5 Johann Zarco Yamaha Tech 3 6th
8th # 38 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 8th
9 # 6 Stefan Bradl Honda LCR 7th
10 # 55 Hafizh Syahrin Yamaha Tech 3 6th
11 # 45 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 5
12th # 99 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 4th
13th # 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 3
14th # 17 Karel Abraham Ducati Asparagus 2
15th # 81 Jordi Torres Ducati Real Avintia 1
Out # 25 Maverick Viñales Yamaha Yamaha 0
Out # 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Pramac 0
Out # 43 Jack Miller Ducati Pramac 0
Out # 12 Thomas Luthi Honda Marc VDS 0
Out # 93 Marc Marquez Honda Repsol Honda 0
Out # 29 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 0
Out # 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 0
Out # 21 Franco Morbidelli Honda Marc VDS 0
Out # 19 Alvaro Bautista Ducati Ducati 0

Qualifying

The training sessions for the season finale in Valencia, Spain, were surprisingly shaped by the weather and sometimes heavy rain. After the first session had to be broken off on Friday, the conditions on Saturday were a bit better, but not all top drivers managed to get directly into Q2 on the drying track at the end of the third free practice session.

Not only did Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales have to compete in the first qualifying, with Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) two other works riders competed for the last two places for the final qualifying.

In Q1 it was then on the almost completely dry track but Bradley Smith who set the first, valid best time. Of the favorites, it was only Maverick Vinales who could set top times at the beginning and was at the top of the timesheet with a 1: 32.418 minutes at halftime.

In the second round, the events rolled over. Franco Morbidelli set the next best time, but was only beaten by Maverick Vinales, and shortly afterwards Andrea Iannone turned the fastest lap. The Italian was able to improve again in the following lap and made it into the final qualifying with a 1: 31.382 minutes before Vinales. Things didn’t go so well for Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. While Lorenzo narrowly missed the entry into Q2 and will only start the race from position 13, it was only enough for Vinales team-mate to start position 16.


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Marc Marquez crashed at the beginning of qualifying and, despite a briefly dislocated shoulder, went to fifth on the grid.

At the beginning of the final qualifying it was not a best time, but a fall of Marc Marquez on the first lap that shaped the event. The Spaniard crashed at Turn 4, dislocating his shoulder, but managed to get back on the bike shortly before the end of qualifying. In the meantime, Andrea Dovizioso, Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci were almost exclusively Ducati pilots among themselves in the battle for the top position on the timesheets. Only Alex Rins (Suzuki) was able to get involved and was in second place behind Danilo Petrucci until five minutes before the end.

The final battle for pole then opened with a 1: 31.359 minute Maverick Vinales. While Jack Miller and Johan fell on course for top times, Alex Rins secured third place on the grid ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. Marc Marquez drove in pain behind Danilo Petrucci in 5th place on the grid. KTM driver Pol Espagaro completes the second row and starts the race on Sunday from a strong sixth on the grid.

position  No. driver motorcycle team
1 # 25 Maverick Viñales Yamaha Yamaha
2 # 42 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki
3 # 04 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati
4th # 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Pramac
5 # 93 Marc Marquez Honda Repsol Honda
6th # 44 Pol Espagaro KTM KTM
7th # 29 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki
8th # 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia
9 # 26 Dani Pedrosa Honde Repsol Honda
10 # 43 Jack Miller Ducati Pramac
11 # 5 Johann Zarco Yamaha Tech 3
12th # 51 Michele Pirro Ducati Ducati
13th # 99 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati
14th # 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda LCR
15th # 21 Franco Morbidelli Honda Marc VDS
16 # 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha
17th # 12 Thomas Luthi Honda Marc VDS
18th # 17 Karel Abraham Ducati Asparagus
19th # 19 Alvaro Bautista Ducati Ducati
20th # 6 Stefan Bradl Honda LCR
21 # 55 Hafizh Syahrin Yamaha Tech 3
22nd # 38 Bradley Smith KTM KTM
23 # 81 Jordi Torres Ducati Real Avintia
24 # 45 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia

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