Dovizioso defeats Marquez in thriller
IF THIS YEAR’S MOTOGP TITLE HAD appeared to be edging towards Marc Marquez and Honda, a true wet-weather epic at Motegi last weekend once again blew open the race for the championship, thanks to a masterful last-gasp victory for Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Although Motegi is owned by Honda, the point-and-squirt nature of the Japanese track has traditionally made it a happy hunting ground for Ducati, and it has a special significance for the Italian marque as the scene of Casey Stoner’s title triumph in 2007 – its most recent.
Ten years on, Dovizioso staked his claim as Stoner’s successor after coming out on top in a duel against Marquez in torrential conditions that will be remembered for many years to come.
At first, it seemed that Danilo Petrucci was set to take the maiden win that eluded him in similar circumstances at both Assen and Misano, as the Pramac Ducati rider escaped to an early twosecond lead with the benefit of the extra-soft rear tyre. But Petrucci couldn’t keep up the pace, and Marquez and Dovizioso, both on the harder option rear tyre, gradually reeled him in and the two title protagonists went past.
That set up a thrilling showdown between Marquez and Dovizioso, during which the pair exchanged the lead no fewer than seven times. The first of these came with five laps to go as Dovizioso outbraked Marquez at Turn 5 to take command, and by the end of the lap, had eked out a lead of 0.8s.
But three laps later Marquez was back on his tail, and muscled his way through at Turn 3 in a move he would later apologise for on account of being overly aggressive. Three corners later, Dovizioso returned the favour with an equally daring pass. At Turn 9 Marquez was back through again, this time opening up a slight advantage on his foe, and by the start of the final lap the Honda man looked to have done just about enough.
But Marquez suffered a major wobble at Turn 8 to allow Dovizioso back into range, and the 31-year old took full advantage by getting the better of his rival on the brakes at Turn 11. In a repeat of the pair’s dice for glory at the Red Bull Ring in August, Marquez had one final go at wresting back the position, diving to the inside at the final corner.
But with Austria still fresh in his memory, Dovizioso knew this was coming and duly took a wider line, allowing Marquez through but getting superior traction to beat his rival to the line by a scant 0.249 seconds for victory number five of a vintage 2017 campaign. A further 10s back was Petrucci, who cruised home to collect his fourth podium finish of the season once his rear tyre had given up the ghost.
If Motegi served to reignite Dovizioso’s and Ducati’s title ambitions, it well and truly extinguished the already-slim hopes of Maverick Vinales and Yamaha. Having fallen 26 points behind Marquez at Motorland Aragon, Vinales needed a big result to keep himself in realistic contention. But the chronic lack of rear traction that kept him off the podium at Misano in similarly miserable weather returned with a vengeance in Japan.
As a result, the pre-season title favourite was knocked out of Q1, matching his worst-ever Motogp grid slot of 14th place. He then had a lacklustre run to ninth in the race.
Now 41 points down on Marquez and 30 shy of Dovizioso, Vinales remains in mathematical contention with three rounds left and 75 points still up for grabs, but he admitted Yamaha’s failure to improve in the wet means his title hopes are “slipping away”. Valentino Rossi fared marginally better than his team-mate in qualifying, although a bizarre slick-tyre gamble on a still soaking track in Q2 consigned him to 12th place on the grid. Rossi had made little progress in the race when he crashed on lap six in a dramatic highside at Turn 7 that left him with “pain everywhere”, but luckily he didn’t inflict any further damage on the right leg he is recovering from breaking last month.
With the factory machines struggling, it was left to the satellite Tech3 squad to defend Yamaha honour on home turf, a challenge that Johann Zarco tackled with typical aplomb. Marquez had looked nailed on for pole, and was a second clear of the pack when he decided to ditch the wets and try out slicks for his second run. That allowed star rookie Zarco in the frame to snatch pole, his second of the year. But the Frenchman was unable to replicate that speed in the race, and soon found himself going backwards, albeit not without drawing the ire of Jorge Lorenzo with a typically aggressive move on the
works Ducati rider early in the race.
After briefly settling into fourth place, Zarco was demoted by both works Suzuki riders – Andrea Iannone delivering the team’s best result of a troubled season with fourth ahead of team-mate Alex Rins, Lorenzo and Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia – and ultimately came home in eighth place.
Special mention goes to Zarco’s team-mate for the weekend, 21-year-old rookie Kohta Nozane, who was drafted in to the Tech3 stable at short notice as Jonas Folger was forced to return home to Germany by an illness. Nozane completed his first day on the job with an impressive 13th fastest time in second practice, immediately behind Vinales and Rossi, before a nasty crash in FP4 on Saturday left him with a minor hand injury. But he battled on, qualifying last and crashing out of the race on lap three.
While Nozane’s first ever Motogp race ended in ignominy, Dovizioso’s
174th ended with his seventh and arguably greatest premier-class victory to date. Whether it proves the springboard to motorcycle racing’s greatest prize or a runner-up spot remains to be seen – but either way, he can continue to take pleasure in defying expectations and co-authoring an unforgettable chapter in Motogp history.