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You can begin from the end to recount the GP of Termas de Rio Hondo. You can begin from the image of Marc Marquez who goes to Valentino Rossi’s garage to apologise for the move he made, sent away by a furious Uccio. Or from the image of Cal Crutchlow who celebrates his win on the podium alongside Johann Zarco and Alex Rins. A mad race in no uncertain terms, started with a 15 minute delay and with the entire group except for Jack Miller, the only rider to have chosen slicks from the start, having to go back to the garages just before the start, forced to start four rows behind the Australian as a means of “fairness” for number 43. Before the start there was another episode: Marquez’s Honda stalls with the Spaniard managing to get it going again, but having to turn around the wrong way on the track for a few metres to line back up on the grid.
The one who made the difference on this crazy day was the aforementioned Cal Crutchlow: the English rider skilfully remained calm within the quartet (which turned into a trio) battling for the win, making his definitive move on the final two laps. “I came into the weekend – Cal explains – knowing that I could stay out front. I didn’t want to take any particular risks, maintaining the same pace as the fastest and being careful of the water on the track. My lap times toward the end were the same as last year and once I knew that the tyre wasn’t going to betray me, I’d say that I did a good job.”
The rider who tried to battle Cal for the win down to the wire was Johann Zarco who, once again, had to settle for, in any case an excellent second place finish: “The win will come soon. I just need to keep going like this. There were wet places on the track and that kept me from being relaxed. I tried not to make any mistakes and to pass Cal, but I wasn’t able to. He deserved to win and I hope that it will be my turn soon.” The podium is completed by a smiling Alex Rins who managed to cancel out his zero finish in Qatar: “Before the start I was very nervous because of the delay. On the last lap I was afraid that Miller was close to me, but fortunately he wasn’t and I was able to bring home this podium which makes me very happy.”
It was, indeed, Jack Miller who finished at the foot of the podium, having to settle after coming rather close to a crash about three-quarters of the way through the race, followed by Maverick Viñales. The Spaniard was the best of the factory Yamaha riders, considering Valentino Rossi’s crash after contact with Marquez. Number 46 managed to finish the race, but he had to settle for 19th place. His collision with Rossi was the last of a collection of mistakes and problems for Marc Marquez during the race, a race which, based on the times, could easily have been his.
Number 93’s odyssey began with the ride through for his manoeuvre prior to the start, which forced him to move from the race lead to 19th place. At that point, Marc began his mad comeback ride, led more by instinct than reason: the first contact occurred with Aleix Espargaró on the penultimate turn, with number 93 trying to make space for a pass where there was none, ending up running wide along with his compatriot. Race Direction’s decision was immediate, handing down the order (which was followed) to return the position. So the comeback resumed until the culmination of the collision with Rossi: number 93 attempted an identical pass to the one on Espargaró, but with worse results, given the fact that both riders went long and number 46 fell in the grass.
The result? Marc penalised 30 seconds after the race and 18th in the final results with a myriad of potential repercussions. Getting back to the race results, Andrea Dovizioso finished with a smile, sixth across the line on a day that was rather difficult for Ducati, given Petrucci’s 10th place and Lorenzo’s 15th. Behind Dovi was an outstanding Rabat with the GP17, ahead of a less effective Andrea Iannone than hoped for. Franco Morbidelli deserved to smile, on the other hand, 14th over the line.
