Finally, it was the end of a win drought for Jorge Lorenzo as he claimed his first victory abode the Ducati Desmosedici in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello – it was the Spaniard’s first win since the 2016 Valencia Grand Prix as well.
Lorenzo assumed the lead at the start of the race from Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi as Honda’s Marc Marquez shot himself into third from sixth on the grid which included a small contact with Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci’s Ducati.
Marquez then made an easy work of Rossi to move into second, but not for long as the Spaniard fell at Turn 10 to drop back into the field after a desperate attempt to save his Honda from further damage.
This helped Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso as the Italian cleared Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone and Rossi to take second and make it a Ducati 1-2, while a fight ensued for the final podium position involving Rossi, Iannone, Petrucci and Alex Rins (Suzuki).
Rossi held to third but lost to Iannone at first as Petrucci lurked behind the two. Rossi got ahead again but went wide which allowed Petrucci into third, bringing Rins and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow onto the back of the pack as well.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo continued to build on a gap to teammate Dovizioso and eventually take a brilliant win for the Italian manufacturer in its home grand prix to put himself back on the top spot after 23 grand prixs since his last win.
Dovizisio made it a Ducati 1-2 with the Italian having no answer to his teammate’s pace, while Rossi battled through to complete the podium. The Italian dropped behind Petrucci and Rins at one stage, but cleared both to third.
In the final few laps, he had Iannone on his tail who also recovered from a mid-race slump to challenge Rossi for the podium. The two traded places, but it wasn’t for Iannone as he had to settle for fourth.
Rins in fifth made it a good day for Suzuki with a double finish inside the Top 5 for the Japanese manufacturer as the rookie held off Petrucci in the end, who lost a place to Crutchlow as well to finish seventh.
The Italian though managed to keep of Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, who had a disastrous run after falling down to 11th in the opening lap from third on the grid. The Spaniard fought back, but could only manage eighth.
Vinales had Angel Nieto Ducati of Alvaro Bautista to cover off for major portion in the race which he did well to. The Top 10 was completed by Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco, who continued to lose positions in the race.
Behind, KTM’s Pol Espargaro was 11th with top rookie Tech 3 Yamaha’s Hafizh Syahrin snatching 12th from Avintia Racing Ducati’s Tito Rabat by a mere 0.029s, with the other KTM of Bradley Smith a further 0.002s away in a photo finish.
Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Morbidelli was the last scorer in 15th after the Italian had a bad start to fall in the lower half of the field. Still the championship leader, Marquez finished 16th after he cleared Avintia Racing Ducati’s Xavier Simeon.
Meanwhile, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was back out in the race after his first lap collision with Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The Japanese rider made it back into the pits and as classified 18th, five laps down on the leaders.
Joining Pedrosa in the retirement list were Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller, Aprilia’s Alexis Espargaro & Scott Redding, Marc VDS Honda’s Thomas Luthi and Angel Nieto Ducati’s Karel Abraham.
