Morbidelli and Zarco were both thankfully on their feet after one of the scariest incidents in MotoGP™ history. They both went to the medical centre for a check-up, and both were declared fit. Amazingly, everyone emerged unscathed.

So, after the riders had caught their breath and regathered their composures – and the marshals had done a terrific job of clearing the track and fixing the air-fence – the 20-lap restart was underway. Pol Espargaro was on pole as the starting grid was decided on countback to the previous completed lap, before the crash. And the KTM rider got a very good getaway but Miller came flying up the inside from P3, the Aussie ran wide but was able to use the drive down the long straight to hold his advantage.

Pol was through at T3 but Miller – who had gambled on a soft-soft tyre option – was trying to pull the pin from the off. The Australian took the lead at Turn 6 and immediately got the hammer down. Meanwhile, the opening lap on the restart was a horror show for Viñales who slipped to last place – a bike issue? No one was sure, with motogp.com pitlane reporter Simon Crafar confirming after the race that Viñales did have some sort of mechanical or electric issue on his YZR-M1. And what about Quartararo? Starting from the back of the grid, the Frenchman had started making up places but for the two Yamahas and top two in the Championship, this was now all about damaged limitation – P16 and P20 for the Quartararo and Viñales on Lap 1.

By Lap 3, Miller was nearly a second up the road from Pol Espargaro, Dovizioso, the two Suzukis and Oliveira. Mir and Alex Rins were looking very strong after making great starts on their GSX-RRs, and the duo – along with Dovizioso – were swarming Pol Espargaro. Lap 4 saw Miller’s lead creep up to over a second but on the next lap, Dovizioso set the fastest lap of the race. Just behind the Italian, Espargaro had his hands full with the two Suzukis. The trio were exchanging positions like there was no tomorrow and they were losing time on Dovizioso, with Rins eventually making a move stick and the 42 was off chasing Dovizioso.

On Lap 7, Rins set the fastest lap. Further back, Quartararo was P13 and Viñales was still out the points. On the next lap, Miller’s lead was down to just 0.4 as Dovizioso and Rins reeled in the Pramac Racing star, with Pol Espargaro, Mir and Oliveira now over a second off the podium scrap. Espargaro looked like he was getting impatient as a potential race win was slowly slipping from his grasp, a couple of mistakes crept in and on Lap 9, catastrophe struck for KTM at their home race. At Turn 4, Espargaro and Oliveira were both down. The aftermath showed Oliveira absolutely livid in the box as we await to hear what really happened between the two.