MotoGP-Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) unstoppable in Argentina as Rossi beats Dovizioso to second on the last lap.

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Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) obliterated the opposition on Sunday at the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina to take victory by over nine seconds, the reigning World Champion beating second place Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and third place Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) as the Italian duo battled it out for the entire race.

Marquez got an unthreatened holeshot after a blinder of a start with second place Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) getting bogged down, allowing Dovizioso, Rossi and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) to get by the Spaniard. With Marquez holding position off the line, it was a case of head and hammer down for the number 93 as he bolted to a one second lead on Lap 1, with that gap increasing to 2.4 after Lap 2 as it soon became a race for second.

That race for second was fierce though as Dovizioso, Rossi, Miller, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) scrapped it out. But it was soon rostrum challenge over for Crutchlow as Race Direction gave him a ride through penalty for jumping the start – no repeat win or podium for last season’s Argentina GP victor.

Back at the front and on Lap 8 Marquez’ lead was stretched to five seconds as six riders all had their sights set on second, with Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Viñales joining the fray. Rossi eventually got the better of Dovi on Lap 9 after running in hot at Turn 5, but the Ducati rider locked himself onto Rossi’s M1 tailpipes as the Italians locked horns in Termas.

It was ‘The Doctor’ who held the P2 baton at the halfway point, eight seconds from Marquez, with Dovizioso, Morbidelli, Petrucci, Miller and Viñales in tandem, with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins creeping up to the rear of Viñales after making up ground from P16 on the grid, firmly tagging himself onto the back of the podium hunt with 10 to go. Viñales then ran wide at Turn 5 and he dropped behind 8th place Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu).

With nine to go, a Noah’s Ark formation appeared as second to seventh were two-by-two, roughly half a second between the pairings. Dovi and Rossi locked together, Morbidelli and Petrucci interchanging for fourth with Rins and Miller engaged in battle. Morbidelli soon found himself down in seventh though, Rins and Miller getting the better of him. Meanwhile, Marquez’ gap had opened up to 12 seconds.

The group had closed back up again but with five laps remaining, Dovi and Rossi were edging out an advantage over the chasing pack, with Petrucci, Rins and Miller squabbling for fourth place. Both Rins and Miller getting the better of Petrucci at Turn 5 with three to go.

Heading into the last lap it was Dovi leading Rossi. Both were clear of fourth, but which step of the podium would they be standing on? Dovizioso was able to keep second as the Yamaha had no match for the Ducati grunt down the straight, but ‘The Doctor’ sliced his way through on his countryman at Turn 7. A long way up the road, Marquez cruised round to take his first win of the season in scintillating fashion. A Marquez masterclass in Termas, with Rossi earning his first podium since the 2018 German GP. Dovi came home third, achieving his pre-race aims of a podium finish to head to Austin four points behind Marquez in the Championship.

Just behind, there was drama for two Yamahas on the last lap. Morbidelli tagging the back of Viñales at Turn 7, the duo went down and out of contention. This left Miller holding fourth to repeat his 2018 Argentina GP result, with Rins climbing 11 positions from his P16 starting slot to earn fifth place. Petrucci takes away a second consecutive sixth of the season.

Nakagami makes it two top tens in 2019 to come home seventh, with first of the rookies Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) picking up his first points of the year with a solid P8. The Espargaro brothers completed the top ten, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix, heading Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol by 0.3. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) produced an incredibly impressive ride on his second premier class start to finish just 0.176 behind the factory KTM.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team), a recovering Crutchlow, Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) completed the points in Argentina.

Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and teammate Tito Rabat crashed out – riders ok, with Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) retiring in the latter stages.

An inch-perfect ride from Marquez sees him head to a happy hunting ground in the form of COTA with a four-point Championship lead over Dovizioso. What will we see at the Americas GP?

GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA

MotoGP Race Classification 2019.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	172.7	41’43.688
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	172.0	+9.816
3	16	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	172.0	+10.530
4	13	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	171.9	+12.140
5	11	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	171.8	+12.563
6	10	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	171.8	+13.750
7	9	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	171.5	+18.160
8	8	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	171.3	+20.403
9	7	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	171.0	+25.292
10	6	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	171.0	+25.679
11	5	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	170.9	+25.855
12	4	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	170.8	+27.497
13	3	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	170.6	+31.398
14	2	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	170.5	+32.893
15	1	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	170.4	+33.372
16		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	170.3	+35.545
17		29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	170.1	+38.238
Not Classified
		12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	171.8	1 Lap
		21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	171.8	1 Lap
		36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	168.1	4 Laps
		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	170.7	10 Laps
		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	170.1	11 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2019.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	45
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	41
3	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	31
4	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	24
5	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	20
6	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	19
7	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	16
8	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	13
9	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	13
10	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	10
11	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	9
12	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	8
13	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	8
14	Jorge LORENZO	Honda	SPA	7
15	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	5
16	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	5
17	Andrea IANNONE	Aprilia	ITA	2
18	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	2
19	Johann ZARCO	KTM	FRA	2
20	Hafizh SYAHRIN	KTM	MAL
21	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE
22	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com