Dovizioso wins second straight MotoGP race

Andrea Dovizioso has taken his second race win in as many weeks as he ran away with the Catalan Grand Prix.

Dovizioso stalked Dani Pedrosa for a number of laps before breezing into the lead on Lap 17 of 25 and set about pulling away from the Repsol Hondas as Marc Marquez beat Pedrosa to the second step on the podium.

Pedrosa won the start as Danilo Petrucci arrowed across the track and ran into Marquez, with both riders somehow remaining upright.

Marquez nevertheless emerged third from the first complex of corners, behind Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Lorenzo then took the lead at Turn 5 and Marquez too had usurped Pedrosa by the end of the lap.

#99 held top spot until Lap 6, when Marquez skated into Turn 10 and somehow pulled up in order to pass the factory Ducati.

That move opened the floodgates as Pedrosa rode through the gap made by his team-mate and Dovizioso got by at the Chicane.

Lorenzo lost another two positions, to Jonas Folger and then Petrucci, on the next lap as he appeared to struggle for grip.

Pedrosa outbraked Marquez at Turn 1 on Lap 8, before Dovizioso moved into second at Turn 10 on the same lap.

The race went into a holding pattern for the next several laps, Dovizioso stalking Pedrosa with Marquez close behind and Folger not too far further back, though fifth-placed Petrucci could not stay with them.

Aided by the factory Ducati’s straight-line pace, Dovizioso easily took the lead for the first time into Lap 17 and quickly put nearly a second on #26.

That prompted Marquez to make his move and try and go with the Italian, but it was to no avail as #04 ultimately got to the finish line 3.5s clear.

Marquez, who had crashed four times on the Saturday and again in the morning’s warm up session, during which he even tripped over a bike stand while changing bikes in pit lane, appeared to settle for a solid 20-point haul.

Pedrosa completed the podium while Lorenzo launched a stunning recovery to rebound to fourth by the chequered flag after drifting as far back as eighth midway through the race.

The result was the Ducati Team’s first podium at Catalunya and first pair of consecutive wins since 2010, both those honours having last been achieved on a red bike by Casey Stoner.

Johann Zarco came from 14th on the grid to pass his Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Folger, who was seriously battling for grip, late in the race as they finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati) was involved in a number of battles on his way to seventh, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) ran around the back of the top 10 throughout as he finished eighth, and Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati) took ninth.

Maverick Viñales completed a poor day for the factory Yamaha squad as he finished 10th, largely by inheriting positions due to others’ mistakes, having never really recovered after running off the race track at the first corner.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) finished 11th and the factory Suzukis of Andrea Iannone and Sylvain Guintoli both missed the points.

Jack Miller was running 10th when he dropped his Marc VDS Honda at Turn 5 on Lap 14, consigned him to a DNF.

Petrucci also crashed his Pramac Ducati at the same corner on the penultimate lap while trying to stay ahead of the Tech 3 Yamahas.

Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM) was a non-starter after suffering a finger injury in a practice crash.

Dovizioso’s two race wins have him only seven points adrift of Viñales in the championship, while Marquez pulls clear of Pedrosa as both jump ahead of Rossi.

In Moto2, Alex Marquez dominated while Remy Gardner finished 20th.

Round 8 of the world championship is the Dutch TT in Assen on June 23-25.

Race results: Catalan Grand Prix

Championship points: After Round 7