Image: Supplied.

Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took a stunning second win of the season and his second at Jerez in the Spanish grand prix.

Commanding winner Marquez was able to fight to the front and just able to pull away into clear air, away from some huge drama that then hit the race behind.

In a pivotal day in the championship, an unbelievable racing incident saw Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team), teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) all crash out together at turn six, with Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) then coming through to complete the podium.

Lorenzo got the holeshot after a quick launch from the second row, taking the lead ahead of Pedrosa in second and Zarco in third as polesitter Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) lost out off the line. Marquez remained where he’d qualified in fifth, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in sixth.

Lorenzo pushed early from the front to set the pace, with Pedrosa holding station in second as Marquez, Crutchlow and Zarco squabbled for third. A moment for Zarco soon after then saw the Frenchman out wide and dropping back.

Then Crutchlow crashed out, before another name went missing from the front group as Rins followed suit not so long after. Meanwhile Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had made his way through to the front group – leaving a Repsol Honda vs Ducati Team duel of duos fighting it out.

With 16 laps to go Marquez made his move, slicing past Lorenzo to take over in the lead as ‘DesmoDovi’ and Pedrosa looked for a way past the number 99. After some chopping and changing as Marquez pulled away, it was then time for the three-rider crash that saw Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Pedrosa all collide and tumble into the gravel.

Dovizioso had attacked Lorenzo into six, but headed too deep, with the number 99 then cutting back towards the apex, but Pedrosa was already there. The two collided with each other and then Dovizioso. Costly in the championship, but the three all walked away unharmed despite the incident.

That left Zarco with the unbelievable sight of a Repsol Honda and both Ducatis in the gravel as he came past, inheriting second and then facing seven laps to keep calm and take yet another impressive podium.

The battle to complete that after the drama up ahead was hotting up, meanwhile, as Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were closing in on the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone in third. As the last lap dawned, Iannone was just able to make a gap and stay clear of the chasing Italians.

So the ‘Maniac’ crossed the line in third for the third Suzuki podium in a row, Petrucci took fourth and Rossi a top five finish in the race in which he completed a lap of the world, now having raced the equivalent distance of the circumference of the earth upon finishing lap 15.

Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) just dropped off that battle to score sixth, with Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) making some progress from outside the top 10 in the initial stages to take P7. Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team), Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) completed the top 10.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) rode imperiously to take only his second-ever Moto2 victory at Jerez, lifting him up to second in the world championship. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) came from P14 on the grid to take a superb second, as Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) claimed third to remain the points leader.

In Moto3, Philipp Oettl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing) has taken his first ever GP win on his 91st start, emerging from a dramatic latter part of the race to face Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) in a last lap duel and drag to the line, coming out on top by just half a tenth. Completing the podium was Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai).

Detailed results