Quartararo eases to maiden MotoGP win at Jerez, Marquez crashes

Fabio Quartararo dominated the MotoGP season opener at Jerez to claim his elusive first premier class victory, while Marc Marquez crashed heavily at Turn 3 late on.

Quartararo had to battle back through the back due to a slow start from pole, the Petronas SRT man dropping to third behind a fast-starting Maverick Vinales and Marquez.

He then struggled for speed across the opening tours, first being passed by Jack Miller for third before losing fourth to the second Pramac Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia.

He managed to find his groove soon after though, re-passing Bagnaia before moving into third as now-leader Marquez made a huge error at Turn 4, the Honda man losing the front of his RC213-V and somehow saving it despite having to run through the extensive gravel trap on the outside of the bend.

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Quartararo soon had his sights set on the pair ahead, taking second from Miller at the final corner at a quarters-distance before passing Vinales at the same turn just a lap later as the factory Yamaha man made a mistake and ran wide, dropping to third.

From this point on Quartararo was un-headed, the sophomore racer edging clear of the rest across the remaining laps, ultimately taking the chequered flag 4.6 seconds clear of Vinales.

Vinales managed to re-pass Miller towards the end of the race as the recovering Marquez got ever closer, eventually taking an untroubled second after Miller was forced to focus his attentions on Andrea Dovizioso.

The Italian got the best of the Aussie at Turn 6 on the penultimate lap, taking an impressive podium just two weeks on from surgery on a broken collarbone.

Miller held on for fourth ahead of a charging Franco Morbidelli, while Pol Espargaro came home a strong sixth and in touch with the podium battle on his factory KTM.

Bagnaia eventually faded to seventh as he struggled for grip in the second half of the contest, with Miguel Oliveira taking a lonely eighth on his Tech 3-run KTM RC16.

Danilo Petrucci struggled for speed all race and came home ninth, while Takaaki Nakagami brought his ’19-spec Honda across the line tenth.

Marquez crashed out late on after an incredible comeback that saw him climb from 16^th to third, with second-placed Vinales just in front.

The reigning world champion suffered a nasty high-side on the exit of Turn 3 with just a few laps remaining however, forcing him to end his race for good in the gravel trap.

Visibly injured with an injured shoulder, Marquez was carried away on a stretcher and could be in doubt for the second Jerez event in just a week’s time.

Honda team-mate Alex Marquez had a subdued MotoGP debut on his way to 12^th just behind Johann Zarco’s Avintia Ducati, while Brad Binder took 13^th after making a mistake and dropping to the back after running seventh early on.

Valentino Rossi failed to finish after suffering a reliability issue while running tenth in the closing stages, his M1 grinding to a halt and leaving him stranded out on the circuit.

Both Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins failed to start the race after being declared unfit to take to the grid, Rins following his dislocated shoulder in a Q2 crash yesterday and Crutchlow for a crash in warm-up this morning.

Crutchlow should be good to return to action next week, while Rins will likely have to miss the second Jerez event and focus on a comeback at Brno in three weeks time.   

Jerez de la Frontera, Sunday, July 19, 2020