With every Jerez podium topped by a Spaniard so far, the MotoGP race looked like it was going to a Spanish uncivil war between Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez. After being beaten twice in a row by his young team mate, the pressure was certainly on Dani to come up with the goods under the Spanish sun.
Rossi and Marquez had a great battle
High track temperatures were giving quite a few riders issues with many hitting the ground in practice, something that even caught out the great Valentino Rossi. Tyre choice was going to be a gamble in the race so for the spectators it was fingers crossed for some decent action when the rubber started to get cooked.
After the first two races, the big question was over Rossi - what would happen if he managed to get a break with the leading bunch? A great start, ballsy overtake and Rossi was up to third at the end of lap one. However ballsy as it was you have to love Marquez who shoved it up the inside of Rossi a few corners later. Overtakes are exciting for the fans, but unfortunately the Rossi/Marc dice was allowing Jorge and Dani to create a gap at the sharp end.
Behind the leaders they were dropping like the Spanish economy as Bradl and several CRT riders tasted gravel, but no one really cared as Marquez was catching the leaders and Dani was looking like he had a bit of fire in his belly...
22 laps to go and Dani passed Jorge to take the lead, obviously sensing the immanent arrival of Marquez, while behind Cal was making ground up on Rossi. A few more laps and Dani had clear air while Jorge had Marquez on his tail/seat unit/back wheel! There was a certain feeling of inevitability (and probably broken metal) in the air...
Pedrosa was running away at the front
Several close calls between Marquez and Lorenzo allowed Pedrosa the space he needed to check out and by mid-race it looked like he had it all under control. In fourth spot Rossi had opened a gap on Bautista (who always goes fast in Spain) who had overtaken a battered and bruised Cal.
With the race already basically won, all eyes were on the battle for second place between Jorge and Marc as it closed up nicely in the final few laps. After some of his Moto2 elbow barging overtakes, you had to wonder just how Jorge would appreciate Marc's attention when there was Spanish glory to gain. Or how far Marc would push it.
Remember Rossi and Gibernau? Marc did the same to Lorenzo on the final corner, ironically called Lorenzo corner. Marc was never going to make that apex and shoved Jorge wide to steal second place. Would there be words later (nice finger waving in the winners enclosure Jorge) or even a protest? The podium was certainly a frosty affair...
Moto2/Moto3
Moto2 and Brit Scott Redding lined up in second spot, a place he kept on the opening few laps. A hot day usually spells a mid-race drop in pace for Scott as his tyres wear, however with 10 to go and despite Rabat looking like he had escaped, Scott was holding firm in second. Up the front it was fairly uneventful with Rabat taking the win and Scott second, but the battle for third between Nakagami and Espargaro was pretty good until the Japanese rider had a monster moment.
Moto3 saw the usual suspects of Rins, Vinales, Salom and Folger setting the early pace and gapping the field. A fairly spectacular accident saw Rins exit stage left, leaving the three remaining riders to battle it out while lower down the order all hell was breaking loose as riders were flying through the air like confetti, something that brought out a red flag with six to go. Not a great way to win a race but Vinales wasn't complaining while Salom looked a touch annoyed in second and Folger happy to get third. A great ride by Brit John McPhee saw him finish in 11th spot with Danny Webb in 13th.
MotoGP
1. Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team)
2. Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
3. Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing)
Moto2
1. Rabat (Tuenti HP 40)
2. Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team)
3. Espargaro (Tuenti HP 40)
Moto3
1: Vinales (Team Calvo)
2: Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
3: Folger (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3)
Brit watch
Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) - 5
Bradley Smith (MotoGP) - 10
Michael Laverty (MotoGP - CRT) - 13
Scott Redding (Moto2) - 2
Danny Kent (Moto2) - 27
Kyle Smith (Moto2) - 30
Danny Webb (Moto3) - 13
John McPhee (Moto3) - 11
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)