MotoGP: Marquez Duels Dovizioso To Win Aragon GP As Lorenzo Crashes

Honda's Marc Marquez extended his championship lead in the 2018 MotoGP championship taking an absolutely fantastic win in the Aragon Grand Prix. The Honda rider battled race leader Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati to take the win, as pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of contention early on. The race also ended on a brilliant note for Suzuki's Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins as they clenched third and fourth spots respectively. With a brilliant win, Marquez is now 72 points ahead of Dovi, while Yamaha's Valentino Rossi sits third after finishing at P8 in the race.

Pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo crashed on the opening lap while exiting the first corner and ended up with a dislocated toe, setting the story for the dramatic Aragon GP. The blunder by the Spaniard turned to work in favour of teammate Andrea Dovizioso's favour who was promoted to the lead from P2 followed by Honda's Marc Marquez and the two Suzukis of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins.

(Jorge Lorenzo crashed from pole on the opening lap of the Aragon GP)

While there was some friction between the Suzukis, the top remained unchanged for most of the race as Dovizioso led the race followed by Marquez and Iannone. However, Marquez showed some aggressive moves as he passed Dovi with three laps remaining taking another win by a margin of 0.648s. Iannone finished 1.259s over the race leader, while briefly taking the lead but couldn't match the pace of the title contenders. Nevertheless, this was Suzuki's fifth podium of the season.

Alex Rins finished fourth with ample of breathing space over Honda's Dani Pedrosa, while Aleix Espargaro took a smashing sixth after starting 14th and then moving up to fifth in the opening lap thanks to a great start before finishing a position below.

(Suzuki's Andrea Iannone finished third after briefly competing for the top spot)

Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci finished seventh over LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow who crashed in the early laps after starting fourth on the grid. Also making a comeback was Rossi after starting 18th thanks to a terrible qualifying session and finished at P8, two positions higher than teammate Maverick Vinales. The other Pramac rider Jack Miller finished ninth losing P8 to Rossi in the final stages of the GP.

The last points were taken by KTM's Bradley Smith, Franco Morbidelli and Takaaki Nakagami, while Tech3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco and Karel Abraham of Nieto Ducati finished 14th and 15th. Debutant Jordi Torres for Avintia Ducati finished 20th, half a second down on teammate Xavier Simeon.

Alvaro Bautista was another casualty of the opening lap and ran out of contention after a crash along with Lorenzo.