Catalunya, Spain – There were handshakes between old enemies in parc ferme but few smiles at Montmelo on a weekend overshadowed by the death of Moto2 rider Luis Salom in the second free practice on Friday.
Race direction was at a loss to explain what had happened as Salom, way off the racing line, seemed to make no attempt whatever to turn into Turn 12, sliding straight into the air fence right behind his Kalex, which bounced back and hit him, inflicting massive internal injuries.
Paramedics began life support within seconds, and Salom was immediately transferred to hospital in Barcelona for emergency surgery, but was declared dead in the operating theatre.
After his grieving family had said the race must go on, the promotors, together with a panel of 10 riders across all three classes, opted to use the Formula One layout at Montmelo, which has two slow corners in place of the fast Turn 12, for this meeting, pending an investigation into the cause of the crash.
In the MotoGP headliner Valentino Rossi struck back from a difficult start to take a thrilling and hard-fought win from arch-rival Marc Marquez, while Rossi’s Yamaha Factory team-mate and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, got skittled by an errant Italian, promoting Marquez to the top of the points table and throwing the championship wide open again.
South African Brad Binder failed in his attempt to become the first rider to win four consecutive Grands Prix in the ultra-competitive Moto3 class by just half a second, finishing second to Jorge Navarro, while younger brother Darryn achieved a carrer-best 12th in the same race.
MOTOGP
Lorenzo got a perfect start of the front row of the grid and rocketed off the line to lead into Turn 1 while Marquez, launching from pole position for the first time at his home race, managed to hold onto second into the first corner, with team-mate Dani Pedrosa in hot pursuit.
From fifth on the grid, Rossi was shuffled back to seventh in the opening melee, but at the start of the second lap he and hard-charging Maverick Vinales on the works Suzuki made an incredible pass on Ducati Team rider Andrea Iannone, demoting him to sixth.
‘The Doctor’ was on fire and was almost immediately on Pedrosa’s tail, passing him into the new Turn 10 on lap three. Four laps later he took the lead from team-mate Lorenzo with a classic move into Turn 1.
Marquez soon followed as Lorenzo began to lose pace; soon Pedrosa and Vinales went past, and on lap 17 the almost unbelievable happened as Iannone left his braking too late at Turn 10, smashing into the back of Lorenzo.
Both riders went down, Lorenzo clearly furious with the Ducati rider. Iannone attempted to apologise but Lorenzo was distraught, his championship lead gone.
Five laps from the end Marquez was all over Rossi like a rash, trying everything he knew to get by until a mistake at Turn 7 the penultimate lap cost him his hopes of victory.
Two perfect final laps saw Rossi glide to his second win of the season and return the championship to a three-way battle, while Marquez moved to the top of the championship standings, 10 points clear of Lorenzo and 22 ahead of Rossi.
Pedrosa came home a lonely third, his second podium of the year largely unnoticed in the drama ahead of him.
Handshakes were exchanged between Rossi and Marquez, the thrill of a great battle burying any hard feelings that may have lingered. Each of the top three took to the podium wearing shirts to honour the memory of the late Luis Salom.
Vinales’ over-aggression cost him a lot of ground, but he was able to clinch a distant fourth, just ahead of Pol Espargaro’s Tech3 Yamaha.
Honda privateer Cal Crutchlow, Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso, Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista and Ducati privateers Danilo Petrucci and Hector Barbera made up the top 10 – only for Barbera to be penalised one position at the end of the race for running outside the track limits, gifting Honda rider Jack Miller his first top-10 finish in the premier class.
MOTO2
Thomas Luthi pulled an incredible start to lead into Turn 1 of a race in which the top 12 finishers would all be Kalex-mounted, with Takaaki Nakagami sliding in just behind him.
Local hero Alex Rins was soon up into second, however, and looking for a way round Luthi; he dived past at the end of the first lap, with Johann Zarco right on his tail, relegating the Swiss veteran (he’s 29!) to third.
The battle for third was one of the most thrilling of the weekend as Luthi held off determined challenges from Alex Marquez – until Marquez crashed out at Turn10 on lap 12 – and Nakagami, until the Japanese rider finally passed him on lap 17 to score his first podium finish of the year.
On the same lap Zarco finally got past Rins, after shadowing him for most of the race, and immediately began to move away, pulling a huge gap of more than four seconds by the end, while Luthi continued to fade, just being caught by Hafizh Syahrin, who relegated him to fifth on the final lap.
Sam Lowes, who came to Barcelona leading the Moto2 standings, was sixth, with Jonas Folger, Miguel Oliveira, Axel Pons, and Marcel Schrotter rounding out the top 10.
MOTO3
Championship leader Binder (KTM), on pole for only the second time in his Grand Prix career, pulled a superb start to lead into Turn 1, but found himself surrounded by rivals, just as in Mugello.
The leading three looked to be breaking away from Binder, but he rallied and caught them within a few laps, leading across the line on lap 10 as a group of eight riders fought for the lead.
Meanwhile Honda privateer Jorge Navarro kept a cool head, working his way to the front of the field and opening up an advantage until a big mistake at Turn 7 on lap eight dropped him from first to fifth.
By lap 15 he had again worked his way to the front of the field and once more attempted to break away. His plan worked, as he went on to win by 0.564s, a big margin for this class of racing.
Five laps from the end disaster struck for Binder as Gabriel Rodrigo (KTM) collided with the back of Binder’s bike, sending them both wide. With three laps to go Binder looked to be out of contention, but a stunning move at the start of the last lap saw him take second.
Catalunya saw a return to form for Honda privateer Enea Bastianini, who was back to his best in Barcelona, running in the leading group the while way and finishing third.
KTM rider Romano Fenati was a man on a mission, out to get back on terms a technical issue wrecked his home race at Mugello. He was quickly inside the top five, in podium contention by lap eight, and eventually finished fourth ahead of team-mate Nicolo Bulega, after a classic Mot3 cliff-hanger last lap.
Aron Canet (Honda), Fabio Quartararo (KTM), Joan Mir (KTM) and Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) rounded out the top, while Binder’s younger brother Darryn, riding a Mahindra, recorded his best finish of the season so far in 12th .
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