Races – Report and results of the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix –

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MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix report and results

Races - Report and results of the Spanish MotoGP Grand Prix -

Honda-Repsol begins MotoGP’s comeback in Europe with a magnificent double at the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix, won with style by the untouchable Dani Pedrosa ahead of Marc Marquez in Jerez. Jorge Lorenzo adds his contribution to the Spanish fiesta by securing his first podium with Ducati, while Maverick Viñales (6th) and Valentino Rossi (10th) leave Andalusia frustrated. Report.

After eight months of famine, Dani Pedrosa returns to victory in MotoGP in Jerez: the Spaniard has not won since the San Marino Grand Prix last year! Weekend in fanfare for "Pedro", who wins after having achieved his first pole the day before from Catalonia, a little over a year ago.

Untouchable from the first tests, the n ° 26 was able to contain the pressure of his teammate, Marc Marquez, second in this first European round. Now coached by Sete Gibernau, Pedrosa takes his 30th MotoGP victory and the 53rd of his career. He is above all the winner of the 3000th race – all categories combined – in the history of the motorcycle Grand Prix, which began in 1949 on the Isle of Man road circuit..

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“It was an extremely hard race. I wanted to go faster but the track conditions didn’t allow it, and I wasn’t that comfortable with my medium front tire. Marc was putting the pressure on me, but I managed to keep my distance and stay on my pace ", explains Dani, who completed all the laps in the lead without ever looking back. Behind, however, the fight raged for the podium: Marc Marquez sweated blood and water to get rid of the breathtaking Johann Zarco, author of a spectacular start to the race. After a few alerts, however, the French had to curb his ardor, which Marquez took advantage of to escape in the wake of Pedrosa..

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"I thought I would come back to Dani, but in the end it was critical with the front tire," said defending champion Marc Marquez. "I knew Dani would be better in these conditions, faster despite my best efforts. And after getting a heat, it convinced me that 2nd place was already a very good thing".

Third, Jorge Lorenzo also took advantage of Johann Zarco’s slight drop in pace to get back on him and get on his first podium with Ducati. Superb performance of the Mallorcan, who climbs on the "body" from his fourth race on a circuit not really favorable to the Ducati, not to spoil anything! Note that it also took four races for a certain Valentino Rossi to be on the podium during his first year at Ducati, in 2011 (at Le Mans)… 

"It’s like a victory," enthuses Lorenzo, who started from 7th place. “Because it’s the Ducati is a tough, special, and nervous bike. It wasn’t particularly better this weekend, but I’m slowly finding my marks on it and taking advantage of the fact that I’m out there. ‘comfortable in Jerez and the pace of the race was relatively slow ", explains the Mallorcan, who can boast of having taxed – in the regular and in the dry – Rossi, then Viñales on his old bike. Without counting Johann Zarco !

Zarco fourth despite difficult conditions and tires 

His teammate Andrea Dovizioso, for his part, took a very good 5th place after climbing from a distant 14th place on the grid. "DesmoDovi" finished behind the first Yamaha of the Grand Prix: that of Johann Zarco, who once again transcended himself to scramble with the best throughout the first part of the race, before slowing down. The French, brilliant 4th after his 5th place in Argentina and Austin, explains it with simplicity: he wisely slowed down after having had some heat, both caused by the wind and the tires.. 

Because the Michelin were a problem this weekend, with the key to many crashes ahead of the race: Crutchlow, Miller, Iannone or Rabat. As Lorenzo and Pedrosa pointed out, the pace was quite slow because everyone was in trouble with the slicks in hard configuration, the best choice given the very hot conditions (41 ° C on the ground).

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The other victims of this poor tire and wind adaptation are the official Yamaha of Viñales and Rossi, only 6th and 10th and never in the race during the race. The two representatives of the Iwata crest fought the whole race with their bikes: Rossi was visually on eggshells entering corners, while "Mack" was never able to exploit his natural velocity. The Doctor finished behind Danilo Petrucci’s private Ducati, against which he was unable to respond. However, the Yamaha worked this weekend: the proof with the 4th place of Zarco, 17.6 seconds behind the leader.

Note also the catastrophic weekend for Suzuki, whose test driver Takuya Tsuda (replacing Alex Rins, who is injured) finished in last place, one and a half minutes from the winner. Andrea Iannone, meanwhile, did not finish following a new fall… This is not going to fix relations with his manager Davide Brivio, who made rather harsh remarks towards Iannone while pointing out his irregularity…

KTM, for its part, achieved a fairly convincing performance in Andalusia with its new "Big Bang" engine, where the previous one was of the "Screamer" type (set at 180 °): if Pol Espargaro made a mistake at the start of race, Bradley Smith finished 14th, 4.7 seconds behind the Ducati of Loris Baz. The 9th place of Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia is also to be greeted, as well as the 8th position of Folger who precedes him on the Yamaha Tech3.

Assessment: Honda impresses, Rossi limits the breakage 

After three overseas firsts where Honda riders have repeatedly criticized the brutality of the 2017 RCV engine, this Honda double at Jerez makes it clear that the winged crest bike is not as devious as indicated: the Andalusian track with all its revivals is very demanding, especially in terms of traction, an area in which Yamaha seemed superior to Honda. Valentino Rossi nevertheless retains the reins of the championship with two small points ahead of his teammate Viñales. Marquez came back four short lengths from n ° 46, followed by Pedrosa (10 pts behind Rossi). Johann Zarco appears in an impressive sixth place despite his fall in Qatar: what a start from the Cannes debutante !

2017 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix results and standings

  1. 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 45’26.827
  2. 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +6.136
  3. 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati +14.767
  4. 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +17.601
  5. 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati +22.913
  6. 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +24.556
  7. 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati +24.959
  8. 94 Jonas FOLGER GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +27.721
  9. 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +31.233
  10. 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +38.682
  11. 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati +40.979
  12. 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati +43.199
  13. 76 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati +43.211
  14. 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +47.964
  15. 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati +51.279
  16. 22 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia + 1’08.885
  17. 12 Takuya TSUDA JPN Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki + 1’27.450

Not classified

  • 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 155.8 (18 laps)
  • 53 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 154.9 (18 laps)
  • 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 156.2 (22 laps)
  • 43 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 155.1 (22 laps)
  • 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 155.1 (22 laps)
  • 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 154.3 (22 laps)

Provisional classification of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship

  1. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA (62 points)
  2. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha SPA (60 points)
  3. Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA (58 points)
  4. Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA (52 points)
  5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA (41 points)
  6. Johann ZARCO Yamaha FRA (35 points)
  7. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR (29 points)
  8. Jonas FOLGER Yamaha GER (29 points)
  9. Jorge LORENZO Ducati SPA (28 points)
  10. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA (26 points)
  11. Scott REDDING Ducati GBR (26 points)
  12. Jack MILLER Honda AUS (21 points)
  13. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia SPA (17 points)
  14. Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati SPA (14 points)
  15. Loris BAZ Ducati FRA (12 points)
  16. Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA (12 points)
  17. Andrea IANNONE Suzuki ITA (9 points)
  18. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE (9 points)
  19. Tito RABAT Honda SPA (8 points)
  20. Alex RINS Suzuki SPA (7 points)
  21. Bradley SMITH KTM GBR (3 points)
  22. Pol ESPARGARO KTM SPA (2 points)
  23. Sam LOWES Aprilia GBR
  24. Takuya TSUDA Suzuki JPN

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