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Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) bounced back from his Americas GP crash in phenomenal fashion to take a commanding victory at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España, beating second place Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and third place Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) to take the Championship lead by a single point.

As the lights went green, Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) launched exceptionally well from 3rd and 4th on the grid to go into Turn 1 ahead of the Petronas Yamaha SRT machines, but Dovi was on the outside and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) forced his way up the inside to push the Championship leader wide and down to 5th as Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Viñales slotted into 3rd and 4th.

So, Plan A for Marquez was perfectly executed as he led the MotoGP freight train around the first lap, but would he be able to pull away from the pack straight away? The answer was no, Morbidelli and Quartararo weren’t letting the number 93 get away. The top three were eking out a gap to Viñales and Dovizioso, with Rins making a good start from ninth to get himself into the top six.

It was as you were for the opening laps with a tenth here and a tenth there fluctuating between the top three, the other chasers losing touch ever so slightly. But then, on Lap 10, Marquez pulled the pin. A 1:38.4 compared to Morbidelli’s 1:39.1 suddenly saw Marquez with a gap of over a second, and it kept on creeping up until Quartararo was able to get past his teammate into second – Morbidelli seemingly starting to struggle.

The flying Frenchman immediately gapped his more experienced teammate but the gap to Marquez was still climbing. Meanwhile, Viñales and Rins were being frustrated by Morbidelli.

However, the cruelest of luck then struck Quartararo. On Lap 14 as he wound his Yamaha up for the back straight, Quartararo slowed. The problem? A gearing issue, replays showing the youngest ever polesitter was stuck in third gear. A terrible shame for the rookie who looked set for a maiden podium as he returned to the garage in tears.

This left Rins to pick up the second place baton after he and Viñales had managed to navigate Morbidelli, with Rins pulling out a gap to over a second to Viñales but by this time, race leader Marquez was over three seconds up the road. A race for the final podium position it was then with Viñales having the two Bologna bullets swarming, Dovi and Petrucci could smell blood and just behind those pair, Morbidelli was having to fend off Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – both of whom dispatched it Italian with relative ease.

With three laps to go it became a two-horse race for third, Petrucci losing touch with Dovi and Viñales as Rins held the gap to his compatriot to over a second. There was no way through for Dovizioso though as we headed onto the last lap, with the number 04 putting in his personal best lap in on the penultimate lap. Viñales was under pressure, but would he fold? No, as Marquez wheelied over the line, Rins rocked home second and the Yamaha man took his first podium since winning in Australia.

Dovizioso had to settle for fourth as he loses his Championship lead to Marquez, four manufactures finishing inside the top four in Jerez, with Petrucci picking up his best result of the year in fifth.

Rossi would salvage sixth from 13th on the grid, yet another top-class Sunday performance from The Doctor, with Morbidelli eventually able to better Crutchlow for seventh and top Independent Team honors.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) finished just two tenths off his teammate in eighth as a trio of Honda riders closed out the top ten – Team HRC’s Stefan Bradl crossing line in an impressive tenth.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) crossed the line in 11th with Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) 12th in Jerez. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco pick up points in P13 and P14 respectively, with Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) taking his second point of the season in P15.

It was a disappointing day for rookies Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) as they both crashed, with Bagnaia’s teammate Jack Miller going down at Turn 13 in the latter stages while battling Aleix Espargaro.

So Marquez bounces back in style to take his second win of the season. The Championship lead his now his heading to Le Mans, but it’s only a point. Rins’ second consecutive podium leaves him right on the tailpipes of the Honda, with Dovizioso three off and Rossi nine. What will the French GP throw up?

Moto2

Flexbox HP 40’s Lorenzo Baldassarri bounced back in brilliant style from his COTA crash plus mechanical issues and crashes aplenty this weekend to take his third win of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España and move 17 points clear at the top of the title standings.

The 23-lap race was red flagged after a huge incident at the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap. ONEXOX TKKR SAG’s Remy Gardner highsided and left Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) with nowhere to go but collide his with bike, leaving the chasing pack to take evasive action with bikes and riders in the middle of the track.

Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Dimas Ekky Pratama clipped Gardner’s bike and then the Indonesian slid into Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Marco Bezzechi, causing the Italian to crash. Marquez and Bezzechi were OK, whilst Gardner and Pratama went to the medical center. Following checks, Pratama was declared fit and Gardner suffered a concussion.

On the restart, Flexbox HP 40’s Augusto Fernandez took the holeshot from the outside of the front row with his teammate Baldassarri following him through from the outside of row two. The Pons Racing pair quickly started to move clear of everyone else, despite Americas GP winner Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) trying to stay with the leading duo in third.

With nine laps remaining, Baldassarri made his move for the lead as he slipped past the Spaniard into Lorenzo Corner before starting to edge ever closer to back-to-back Moto2™ victories at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto.

Poleman, HDR Heidrun Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro, put together a rapid charge in the closing stages and was able to chase down and pass Fernandez for second place with two laps to go, but it was too little, too late for Navarro and, despite his best efforts, Baldassarri held on by 0.359 seconds for a third win of the season after just four rounds.

Navarro secured back-to-back podiums after finishing third in Austin and Fernandez completed a memorable day for Sito Pons and his Flexbox HP 40 team by winning a debut podium finish.

Heading to Le Mans in a fortnight’s time, Baldassarri is now seventeen points clear at the top of the World Championship from Lüthi, who limited the damage in the title chase by collecting thirteen points with a fourth-place finish.

Fifth across the line was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) after fighting his way past Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), who faded back to sixth place after an incredible start, where the Catalan made up eight places on the first lap to go from twelfth on the grid to fourth.

ONEXOX TKKR SAG’s Tetsuta Nagashima benefited most from the earlier red flag as the Japanese rider was forced to start from pitlane after an issue on the grid for the first start. However, as a result of the red flag, Nagashima could retake his place on the grid and salvaged a seventh place finish, which looked close to impossible half an hour earlier.

SKY Racing Team VR46 duo of Luca Marini and Nicolo Bulega battled it out for eighth place with Marini eventually getting the better of his rookie teammate Bulega by half a second. American Racing KTM’s Iker Lecuona rounded the top ten.

Moto3

Niccolo Antonelli claimed an emotional first win for the SIC58 Squadra Corse Moto3 squad as the Italian led home teammate Tatsuki Suzuki at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España on a circuit the late Marco Simoncelli claimed his first lightweight class victory at in 2004, SKY Racing Team VR46’s Celestino Vietti claimed a hard-earned podium in third.

Polesitter Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) didn’t get the launch he would have been looking for as the lights went out as he dropped to third, but Suzuki did. The Japanese rider got the holeshot and immediately pulled out a slight gap on the field as he set about getting into a nice rhythm at the front, with Vietti slotting into second from P3 off the line.

Suzuki had a half-second lead at the end of lap two but that didn’t last long as we had a 10 rider scrap for the lead, with Antonelli and home hero Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) stalking and jostling Dalla Porta, Suzuki and Vietti in the opening exchanges. However, it was a disastrous opening to the race for two leading protagonists – Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) and Championship leader Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) crashing out of contention on Lap 1 and Lap 3 respectively.

Back at the front and it was your typical enthralling battle for the lead in Moto3, with Suzuki and Dalla Porta the two main riders interchanging for P1 in the first quarter of the race. Antonelli was right in the fight but the Italian started to drop down the order as a lead group of 17 formed, Antonelli slipping outside the top 10 in the mid-stages with Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) and Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) starting to look menacing at the front.

Some argy-bargy occurred between a couple of the riders in the lead group into Turn 6 and with eight laps to go, 17 became 12 as the scraps became a little more aggressive – the win and podium in sight for plenty including Antonelli, who had clawed his way back up to the front. However, there was drama with four to go as second place Ramirez hunted race leader Antonelli and heading into Turn 5, Ramirez hit the back of his fellow Honda rider and crashed out. Incredibly, none of the chasing pack collected Ramirez or his stranded bike – but Fenati was the unlucky one as the Italian had to run off track to take avoiding action, his podium challenge was done.

With two to go Vietti was holding onto the baton with Suzuki, Antonelli, Dalla Porta and Canet tucked in behind. Dalla Porta ran wide at Pedrosa corner to all-but end his win hopes as Antonelli led the charge onto the last lap. Vietti fancied a move at Turn 6 but it didn’t work and Suzuki then stuck it up the inside at Turn 9 – Antonelli now had a 0.3 gap heading into the last sector and he made no mistake. The Italian took the win to claim his first 25 point haul since the 2016 Qatar GP, Suzuki fended off Vietti for second to give Paolo Simoncelli an emotional 1-2 on the same track he saw his late son win at 15 years ago.

Vietti claimed P3 for his second GP podium, with Canet taking home the Championship lead from the Spanish GP with a good P4 as the returning Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) grabbed P5. Qatar GP winner Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) recovered from a 23rd in qualifying to get his title hopes back on track with a P6, Jakub Korfeil (Redox PrüstelGP) was in the hunt throughout to seal a seventh. Dalla Porta got beaten up on the last lap to eventually finish 8th as Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) and Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) closed out the top ten.

Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) crashed heavily at Turn 6 in the latter stages and collected Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) in the process – thankfully both riders were ok as they went in search of a podium. Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) crashed at Turn 1 – rider ok, with Filip Salac (Redox PrüstelGP) retiring midway through the race.

It was nothing short of what we expected in terms of wheel to wheel action in the Moto3 class at Jerez, with a first win for SIC58 Squadra Corse a very popular result. A single point splits Canet and Antonelli in the standings heading to Le Mans as the Moto3™ Championship starts to heat up.