2017 Spanish MotoGP : Pedrosa's Masterclass In Jerez

The 3000th official Grand Prix, held in Jerez, had fans expecting some fiery action on a sultry Spanish afternoon and it would be safe to say, they got just that. Dani Pedrosa  made a scorching start to make full use of his pole position while being closely followed by Marc Marquez in second place. Andrea Iannone also had a good run as he was in the third place followed by Cal Crutchlow and Maverick Finales on the fifth spot. But the man of the hour was rookie Johann Zarco, who has proved in his little experience in the premiere class, that he doesn’t care much about anyone’s reputation. He brushed against Valentino Rossi going into the first corner and soon managed to pass the MotoGP legend. Such was his pace that he was up in the third spot surpassing Vinales, Crutchlow and Iannone with 24 laps remaining! Jorge Lorenzo was also feeling confident on the GP17 as he was able to outdo his old nemesis Rossi before outgunning Vinales to take the 6th position.

Zarco and Marquez were involved in a brilliant fight for the 2nd place with the Frenchman briefly taking 2nd position before Marquez snatched his place back. Cal Crutchlow lost the front of his Honda going into turn 11 in his pursuit of Zarco to crash out of the Jerez Grand Prix. KTM rider Pol Espargaro also crashed on the same corner but luckily his tumbling motorcycle was far from Crutchlow and the track marshals. Vinales was struggling with the tyres and ran wide to be relegated to the 9th spot. Lorenzo was also making steady progress and etched out a healthy lead over Rossi before closing down on Zarco. Excess tyre wear made it difficult for Iannone to maintain race pace with the leading pack of riders. Eventually, he pushed too hard, losing the front of the bike and crashing.

Andrea Dovizioso was looking good on his Ducati as he rode through the pack to be on Rossi's tail after starting from 16th position on the grid. Rossi succumbed under the ever mounting pressure and lack of grip as he ran wide to allow Dovizioso to grab the 5th spot. Zarco was also facing tyre wear problems as Lorenzo passed him easily to take the 3rd position. Pedrosa was riding at supreme pace up ahead but Marquez was closing down on him, narrowing down his team-mate’s lead to under a second, with 10 laps in the race remaining. Maverick Vinales was making amends for his earlier mistake and in a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre, passed Rossi and Dovizioso together. Lorenzo finally managed to break away from Zarco and it seemed that podium finish was inevitable. Rossi was struggling badly with the tyres on his Yamaha M1 and was a massive 4.5 second off the pace from the leading pack of riders. This meant he was passed by Petrucci, Folger and Aleix Espargaro, relegating the championship leader to 10th place.

Pedrosa responded to Marquez's charge and despite the best effort of the youngest MotoGP champion, he couldn’t  close down on his team-mate. A jubilant Pedrosa crossed the finish line to a thunderous roar from the Spanish fans to register his 1st win of 2017, while Lorenzo finished third to score his first podium finish for Ducati. The above results mean that Rossi's championship lead has been reduced to just 2 points and a mere 10 points divide the top 4 riders! It was Rossi's first non-podium finish in the 2017 season with the only consolidation being the fact that he leads the championship despite finishing 10th. 

Spanish MotoGP Result: 
1. Dani Pedrosa 
2. Marc Marquez 
3. Jorge Lorenzo 
4. Johann Zarco 
5. Andrea Dovizioso 
6. Maverick Viñales 
7. Danilo Petrucci 
8. Jonas Folger 
9. Aleix Espargaro 
10. Valentino Rossi