MotoGP Argentina: Rossi wins thriller as Marquez falters

Valentino Rossi charged from eighth on the grid to take his second victory in the first three races of the MotoGP season in Argentina on Sunday.

The key to his victory lay in tyre selection, with Rossi bolting the extra hard tyre on the rear of his Yamaha. This allowed the Italian to chase the pack in front, before putting a charge on the Honda of runaway pole sitter Marc Marquez.

Lap by lap, Rossi closed the gap to Marquez and eventually found a way past with just two laps to go. Their wheel-to-wheel battle, however, wasn't without drama with Marquez refusing to relinquish the lead and thereby placing himself on the outside of Rossi as the Italian manoeuvred his bike to take the racing line for an upcoming turn.

Marquez emerged the worse of the two as the impact from Rossi's Yamaha sent his Honda crashing out of the race and into retirement.

As a result, Andrea Dovizioso was promoted into second place, with Cal Crutchlow finishing an excellent third in the LCR Honda, after a last grasp move over Ducati’s Andrea Iannone.

The Ducatis, in turn, performed better in race trim than most expected with both bikes finishing in the top four.

Jorge Lorenzo failed to emulate the heroics of his teammate and finished 10 seconds down in fifth, ahead of Bradley Smith in Tech3 Yamaha.

Aleix Espargaro briefly took the lead at the start of the race, but lack of horsepower cost him dear, with the Suzuki driver eventually crossing the line in 7th place.

Pol Espargaro, Scott Redding, and Maverick Vinales completed the top 10.

The result left MotoGP's living legend Rossi with 110 wins across all classes of motorcycle grand prix racing and 66 points out of a maximum possible of 75 for the season. Dovizioso trails by six points in second with Ducati teammate Iannone in third with 40 points.

Current two-time defending champion Marquez's late race retirement means that he has only 36 points to his name in fifth place.

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 41m35.644s
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 41m41.329s
3. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) 41m43.942s
4. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 41m43.996s
5. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 41m45.836s
6. Bradley Smith (Yamaha Tech 3) 41m55.520s
7. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) 41m59.977s
8. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha Tech 3) 42m3.314s
9. Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) 42m10.041s
10. Maverick Viñales (Suzuk)i 42m10.452s

Moto2: Zarco takes championship lead with Argentina win

Johann Zarco took his maiden victory in Moto2 class at the Argentine round of the championship on Sunday, to take the lead in the riders standings

The Frenchman didn’t get the best of starts from pole position but was able to regain the race lead by lap 3, after an early tussle with Sam Lowes and Xavier Simeon.

The 24 year old then went on to establish a comfortable buffer of best part of three seconds, to take the chequered flag in first place.

Erstwhile championship leader Alex Rins overtook Lowes with two laps to score his second podium finish in two races.

1. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 39m44.497s
2. Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas) 39m47.212s
3. Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing ) 39m48.658s
4. Mika Kallio (Italtrans Racing Team) 39m 49.807s
5. Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) 39m52.455s
6. Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) 39m53.905s
7. Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) 39m54.423s
8. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Athinà Forward Racing) 39m54.525s
9. Jonas Folger (AGR Team) 39m54.649s
10. Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline) 39m55.813s

Moto3: Kent takes dominant win

Danny Kent took his second victory in as many weekends in the Moto3 class, with the British rider finishing 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack in the 21 lap race.

Kent’s teammate Efren Vasquez was classified second ahead of Isaac Vinales’ Husqvarna and pole sitter Miguel Oliveira.

Francesco Bagnaia just missed out of the top 10 in a customer Mahindra.

1. Danny Kent (Leopard Racing) 38m25.621s
2. Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing) 38m35.955s
3. Isaac Viñales (Husqvarna) 38m36.017s
4. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 38m36.388s
5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 38m36.738s
6. Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0) 38m36.816s
7. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 38m37.009s
8. Romano Fenati (SKY Racing) 38m37.224s
9. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing 38m37.333s
10. Niklas Ajo (RBA Racing Team) 38m37.427s