Lorenzo scores commanding Mugello win

Jorge Lorenzo continued his winning streak with a commanding ride to victory in the Italian Grand Prix which saw Marc Marquez’s title defence suffer another setback.

The factory Yamaha rider assumed the lead in the early stages at Mugello which he refused to relinquish as he secured his third consecutive win.

The victory moved the former double world champion to within six points of championship leader Valentino Rossi.

Once in the lead, Lorenzo calmly stretched his lead over the chasing pack while a titanic scrap for the remaining podium positions developed.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso held second spot while Marquez surged up to third having started from a lowly 13th on the grid.

Polesitter Andrea Iannone moved into second once team-mate Dovizioso began to fade with Marquez snapping at his heels as the race ticked towards the final third.

Dovizioso was eventually forced into a premature retirement.

The podium fight took a dramatic twist with six laps remaining when Marquez crashed out of the race.

This gave Iannone the advantage but he was unable to relax due to a hard charging Rossi, buoyed by a huge home crowd.

In the end, Iannone held on to finish second with Rossi third and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa fourth, which is his best result since his return to the premier class following his injury layoff.

Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith came home in fifth with team-mate Pol Espargaro in sixth.

Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales, Michele Pirro, Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernandez completed the top 10.

Cal Crutchlow crashed heavily, while occupying fifth, in the closing laps in what proved to be a disappointing day for the LCR Honda squad, which was compounded by a retirement from Australia’s Jack Miller.

Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro also suffered a crash early on but luckily he escaped without causing further damage to his injured thumb.

Result: MotoGP Italian Grand Prix, Mugello 

Position	Rider	Team	Gap
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha
2	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	+5.563s
3	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	+6.661s
4	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	+9.978s
5	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	+15.284s
6	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3 Yamaha	+15.665s
7	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	+23.805s
8	Michele Pirro	Ducati	+29.152s
9	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Racing Ducati	+32.008s
10	Yonny Hernandez	Pramac Racing Ducati	+34.571s
11	Scott Redding	Marc VDS Honda	+38.553s
12	Loris Baz	Forward Racing Yamaha	+42.158s
13	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing Ducati	+44.801s
14	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Gresini	+50.435s
15	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Honda	+53.060s
16	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Racing Ducati	+1:15.265s
17	Karel Abraham	AB Motoracing Honda	+1:15.381s
18	Marco Melandri	Aprilia Gresini	+1:41.840s
DNF	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Retirement
DNF	Marc Marquez	Honda	Retirement
DNF	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Retirement
DNF	Stefan Bradl	Forward Racing Yamaha	Retirement
DNF	Nicky Hayden	Aspar Honda	Retirement
DNF	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	Retirement
DNF	Jack Miller	LCR Honda	Retirement
DNF	Alex de Angelis	IodaRacing Project	Retirement

MotoGP Championship Standings 

Position	Rider	Points
1	Valentino Rossi	118
2	Jorge Lorenzo	112
3	Andrea Dovizioso	83
4	Andrea Iannone	81
5	Marc Marquez	69
6	Bradley Smith	57
7	Cal Crutchlow	47
8	Pol Espargaro	45
9	Maverick Vinales	36
10	Danilo Petrucci	32
11	Aleix Espargaro	31
12	Yonny Hernandez	26
13	Daniel Pedrosa	23
14	Scott Redding	18
15	Hector Barbera	16
16	Loris Baz	10
17	Michele Pirro	8
18	Nicky Hayden	8
19	Jack Miller	6
20	Hiroshi Aoyama	5
21	Alvaro Bautista	5
22	Eugene Laverty	3
23	Stefan Bradl	1