The Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya produced another brilliant race on Sunday, with Marc Marquez securing the victory on the final lap ahead of Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.
Marquez crossed the line half a second in front of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Rossi, surviving a late scare as Pedrosa touched his rear wheel in the final stages, the latter almost crashing and having to settle for third.
The win is the 100th for Honda in the modern MotoGP four-stroke era and the triumph for Marquez was also historic as it came on the same day as an earlier Moto3 victory for his brother Alex Marquez – the first time 65 years of World Championship competition that siblings have won Grand Prix races on the same day.
Rossi led for much of the race with the Repsol Honda duo chasing him down in the final stages, with Pedrosa returning to form following his recent arm pump surgery and subsequent problems – only to make that late mistake. The threat of rain lingered for the duration of the race, though a light shower was short-lived.
Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) followed the front three throughout the race but was never quite close enough to join the podium fight. He eventually crossed the finishing line 2.7s behind Pedrosa.
Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fifth, staying in position despite running wide early on, whilst Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) finished just under two seconds in front of his brother Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) in sixth.
The top ten was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).
Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) crashed out early on, whilst Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) pulled off track midrace, the yellow flags caused by the Frenchman’s excursion initially distracting the front runners in their intense battle at the front.
Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) both retired due to technical issues.
Marquez reflected, "Of course today was more difficult than Mugello, as the Yamaha riders were very strong early in the race. I was struggling a little bit but then I caught Valentino. I made a mistake in turn one and after that I lost maybe a second and I was catching Vale again. The last laps were so nice, the fans helped a lot. It was really special to fight the last laps with Dani and Valentino."
"It was also special to win on the same day as my brother, he did an incredible race. Also in Moto2 Tito Rabat won, I felt more pressure because if I didn’t win they would tease me a lot!" he added.
