Marquez makes last lap pass to win at wet Misano

Marquez storms to last lap win in the rain

Marc Marquez took the lead on the last lap to win a soaking San Marino Grand Prix for Honda on Sunday and tie at the top of the overall standings with works Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso at 199 points.

Italian Danilo Petrucci, who led for much of the race at Misano’s Marco Simoncelli circuit on Italy’s Adriatic coast, had to settle for second on a non-works Ducati with compatriot Dovizioso a distant third.

But as the spray cleared, it was Jorge Lorenzo on the second Ducati Team machine who got away best from the second row of the grid, taking the lead through the first two corners after bumping elbows with Marquez and than shooting away into the distance. Marquez slotted into second and Dovizioso in third, as Petrucci sliced round the outside of Maverick Vinales on the sole factory Yamaha MotoGP at the start of lap two to begin his charge, passing Dovizioso on lap six to take second.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]A lap later Lorenzo, well clear in the lead, suddenly highsided out at Turn 6, handing Petrucci the lead and setting up a long game of high-speed chess with Marquez and Dovizioso, and nothing between them.

As the laps ticked down, however, Dovizioso began to fade and the battle for the lead became a duel. Marquez chose his moment well to pounce, diving through in Turn 1 at the start of the final lap, and posting the fastest lap of the race and opening a small but vital lead to take the win and the championship lead.

Marc Marquez

Petrucci took his fourth premier class podium, with Dovizioso taking a safe third – his first podium finish at his home circuit – and Vinales finishing fourth to keep himself very much in the title fight.

Michele Pirro again impressed as a wild card for the Ducati Team, making steady progress in to fifth, while Honda privateer Jack Miller put in a signature stunner in the wet from way down on the grid, at one point challenging Vinales for fourth before eventually finishing sixth.

Seventh was Petrucci’s team-mate Scott Redding, ahead of a quality ride from rookie Alex Rins on the second Suzuki after team leader Andrea Iannone crashed out of 13th on lap 14.

Yamaha Tech 3’s Jonas Folger shot through the field from 16th on the grid to take ninth, with an impressive double act behind him for KTM Factory Racing, as Bradley Smith took his first top 10 for the Austrian factory and team-mate Pol Espargaro followed him home in 11th.

Marc Marquez

Marquez leads at the start

“This was one of the best races of my career. It gave me an amazing feeling because it required incredible concentration to manage the tension the whole time. It was very easy to make a mistake, and that’s why I decided to attack only on the final lap. That lap was amazing; I took many risks, but with such a close season, it was worth trying to get the five extra points for the win. Of course I was thinking about the Championship the whole race. At the beginning the feeling wasn’t so good, probably because there was so much water on the track, and I had a couple of very scary moments.

"Lorenzo was amazingly fast early on, and so was Danilo later when he took the lead after Jorge’s crash, but I was able to follow him and finally to attack. Thanks to the team for the great job. I’m happy for everyone after what happened at Silverstone. We always try to be ready for every situation, so because we knew that changing the setup from wet to dry takes quite a long time at this track, we agreed that if I felt the track was drying, and there was even a small possibly of a flag-to-flag race, I would signal the team.

"So I did, and even if in the end that didn’t happen, it was right to do so as we got close to it. This Championship is amazing; anything can happen, but now we’ve returned to the top, equal on points with Andrea. The last five races will be very tough, but we’ll keep pushing and give it our 100%. Finally, I wish to congratulate Toni Bou for his 22nd title, it’s just amazing. Keep doing like that, Toni!"

Results

POINTS AFTER 13 OF 18 ROUNDS