MotoGP Italy: PH2

Can the Italian riders, and machines, shine at home?

The Italian MotoGP always throws up some Italian passion and, despite a poor grid position, you could never write off Rossi sending the crowds into rapture. He did, however, have the slight stumbling blocks of a bang on form team mate, a very rapid pair of Ducatis and Marc Marquez ahead...

A terrible start by Rossi silenced one section of the crowds, but with Lorenzo leading the way, the Ducati fans were going into meltdown as the factory pair were hot on his heels. However the man on the move was Marquez, who was riding like a demon to recover from his poor grid slot.

After a hectic first few laps, the race settled down with Marquez sitting behind leader Lorenzo with the two Andreas still in the frame and Rossi a disappointing eighth. But then, within the space of a lap, Lorenzo suddenly had a one-second lead and Marc was tangling with Dovi. Was Jorge going to do his disappearing trick? A lap later the gap was two seconds - game over.

Although the race win was never in doubt, the battle between the Repsol and Ducati pair (welcome back to form Dani) made the mid-race laps worth watching. Especially as Rossi was now in fifth and closing the gap on the battle for the remaining podium slots. While also providing a stunning bit of slow motion action when he nearly highsided! With six laps to go, Marquez wasn't quite as lucky and tucked the front, much to the crowd's delight! Although Rossi overtaking Pedrosa a few corners later raised the sound level even further. In the end a win for Lorenzo, a battling second for Iannone on a Ducati and Rossi in third and still leading the championship was enough to keep the Italian crowd happy.

Moto2 and Moto3
Pole-setter Sam Lowes was looking on form in Moto2 but a poor start saw him demoted to third by the first corner before he tangled with another rider and undid all his hard work. But at least he was still upright and by mid-race he had fought his way back up to fifth spot. A battling ride saw Lowes finish fourth while Rabat narrowly took the win from Zarco.

Home town advantage, not to mention having Rossi as his boss and a special paint scheme, virtually guaranteed a good showing from last time out Moto3 race winner Fenati. With Mugello's long straight ensuring a breaking away win was a pretty tricky task on a Moto3 bike, come the last lap, around 13 riders were all in with a shot of taking the win! An awesome last lap saw Kent steam through the pack to take second spot with Oliveira getting the win and Fenati third.

Results

1st: Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP)
2nd: Iannone (Ducati Team)
3rd: Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP)

Moto2:
1st: Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS)
2nd: Zarco (Ajo Motorsport)
3rd: Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten)

Moto3:
1st: Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
2nd: Kent (Leopard Racing)
3rd: Fenati (SKY Racing VR46)

Brit watch:
Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) - DNF
Bradley Smith (MotoGP) - 5
Scott Redding (MotoGP) - 11
Eugene Laverty (MotoGP) - 15
Sam Lowes (Moto2) - 4
John McPhee (Moto3) - 19
Danny Kent (Moto3) - 2

Previous rounds:
MotoGP USA
MotoGP Qatar
MotoGP Argentina
MotoGP Jerez
MotoGP France