Marc Marquez scored a sensational victory in the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, denying Fabio Quartararo a first win on the final lap.
Marquez shadowed the Petronas SRT rider once he moved into second place in the early stages, quickly dispatching of Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales as Quartararo tried to escape out in front, having just passed pole-man Vinales himself.
Marquez caught the Frenchman relatively quickly after moving into second, but decided to stick behind and study the satellite Yamaha man until launching his attack as they headed onto the final lap.
The Honda man shot down the inside at Turn 1 to snatch the lead, though Quartararo was having none of it and repaid the favour just seconds later as he dove past into Turn 4.
Marquez hit back into Turn 8, just getting his RC213-V stopped as he in turn stole the inside line with only the back straight and final sector remaining.
Quartararo got a good run on Marquez through the high-speed Turn 12 and looked to attempt a final block pass into Turn 14, but was unable to as Marquez went defensive on entry to the corner.
This wrong-footed the M1 man though and he lost time on the exit, allowing Marquez to come home for his seventh win of the season.
Quartararo was forced to settle to for his fourth podium of the year in second, while Vinales took third just over a second behind the leading pair having found more pace in the second half of the race to close steadily back in, much like he did at Silverstone three weeks ago.
Home hero Valentino Rossi managed to out-fox countryman Morbidelli to secure fourth in front of his loving fans, leaving the second of the SRT bikes to ensure all four Yamaha’s featured in the top five.
Andrea Dovizioso finished a quiet sixth for Ducati, while Pol Espargaro struggled to hold on after his superlative qualifying effort that saw him net second on the grid, eventually taking the chequered flag seventh ahead of Joan Mir’s Suzuki.
Jack Miller had a decent recovery ride to take ninth, while Danilo Petrucci closed out the top ten runners in a distant tenth as his struggles continue.
Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile matched his Silverstone result in 14th, beating only Hafizh Syahrin on track as everyone else behind suffered a crash at some point during the 25 lap encounter.
Alex Rins was looking to challenge for Dovizioso’s sixth when he tucked the front of his GSX-RR Suzuki into Turn 4 just past mid-distance, retiring as a result, while both the LCR Honda’s of Takaaki Nakagami and Cal Crutchlow also took turns to hit the deck in a disappointing race for the squad at its home event.
Marquez now extends his title advantage to a near-unassailable 93 points over Dovizioso, while Petrucci moves back into third overall due to Rins’ retirement.
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