2018 Mugello MotoGP Results
When MotoGP heads to Mugello, all eyes are on the home hero Valentino Rossi.
Heading into round six of 19, the nine-time World Champion had seven wins at Mugello, the most of any MotoGP pilot.
The 39-year-old Italian was quick throughout practice, and claimed the pole position Saturday – the 65th of his career. This tied him with Jorge Lorenzo for second in all-time pole positions across all GP classes (Marc Marquez leads with 74).
Come race day, Rossi did capitalize on the endless fans donning yellow and his pole position. But it wasn’t a win. Rossi had to settle for third behind two other Italian favorites – Ducati Team GP18 pilots Lorenzo, the winner, and runner-up Andrea Dovizioso.
This was Lorenzo’s first win aboard the Ducati, a prototype he has struggled with since joining last season. His best finish to date with the Italian manufacturer was second last season in Malaysia, which was only one of three podiums the Spaniard earned with Ducati.
Lorenzo, who now has six wins at Mugello, started from second on the grid, and got into first on the opening lap. From there, he was untouchable. The five-time World Champion led all 23 laps to take his first win since Valencia in 2016, which was his final race with the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team.
Dovi finished 6.370 seconds behind, and Rossi 6.629 seconds behind.
Team Suzuki ECSTAR’s Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins claimed fourth and fifth, respectively, and were followed by LCR Honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow, the Brit who won in Argentina.
Rounding out the top 10 were Alma Pramac Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci; Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Mavericak Vinales; Angel Nieto Team Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista; and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco.
Six riders crashed out; Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, Angel Nieto Team Ducati’s Karel Abraham and Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Scott Redding crashed out on the opening lap. Also DNFing were Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro; Alma Pramac Racing Ducati’s Jack Miller; and Marc VDS Honda’s Thomas Luthi.
After six of 19 rounds, Marquez, who won three-consecutive rounds heading into Mugello, leads the points battle with 95 points, 23 ahead of Rossi and 28 ahead of Vinales.
The MotoGP series now breaks for two weeks ahead of the Grand Prix of Catalunya at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
Photos by Luciano Bianchetto
2018 Mugello MotoGP Results
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 173.4 | 41’43.230 |
2 | 20 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 173.0 | +6.370 |
3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 173.0 | +6.629 |
4 | 13 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 172.9 | +7.885 |
5 | 11 | 42 | Alex RINS | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 172.9 | +7.907 |
6 | 10 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda CASTROL | Honda | 172.8 | +9.120 |
7 | 9 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Alma Pramac Racing | Ducati | 172.7 | +10.898 |
8 | 8 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 172.7 | +11.060 |
9 | 7 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Angel Nieto Team | Ducati | 172.7 | +11.154 |
10 | 6 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 172.2 | +17.644 |
11 | 5 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 172.0 | +20.256 |
12 | 4 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | MAL | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 171.9 | +22.435 |
13 | 3 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 171.9 | +22.464 |
14 | 2 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 171.9 | +22.495 |
15 | 1 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | ITA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 171.6 | +26.644 |
16 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 170.8 | +39.311 | |
17 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 169.3 | +1’01.211 | |
18 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | 133.0 | 5 Laps | |
Not Classified | ||||||||
41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 172.0 | 4 Laps | ||
43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Alma Pramac Racing | Ducati | 161.8 | 22 Laps | ||
12 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 158.6 | 22 Laps | ||
Not Finished 1st Lap | ||||||||
26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 0 Lap | |||
17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Angel Nieto Team | Ducati | 0 Lap | |||
45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 0 Lap |
2018 MotoGP Point Standings (after six of 19 rounds)
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 95 |
2 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 72 |
3 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | SPA | 67 |
4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 66 |
5 | Johann ZARCO | Yamaha | FRA | 64 |
6 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | ITA | 63 |
7 | Andrea IANNONE | Suzuki | ITA | 60 |
8 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | GBR | 56 |
9 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | AUS | 49 |
10 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati | SPA | 41 |
11 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | SPA | 33 |
12 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 29 |
13 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | SPA | 27 |
14 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | SPA | 23 |
15 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | SPA | 19 |
16 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | Yamaha | MAL | 17 |
17 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Honda | ITA | 17 |
18 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | SPA | 13 |
19 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | JPN | 10 |
20 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | GBR | 7 |
21 | Mika KALLIO | KTM | FIN | 6 |
22 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | GBR | 5 |
23 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | CZE | 1 |
24 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | SWI | |
25 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | BEL |