MotoGP: Petrucci Beats Marquez To Win Italian GP; Bags Maiden Victory

Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci crossed the chequered flag to claim his maiden MotoGP victory, after a climactic battle with reigning world champion Marc Marquez. Petrucci secured his first-ever win at his home ground in Mugello, after a few near finishes earlier in the season. The last laps of the Italian Grand Prix formed most of the excitement as Petrucci led to  victory by a gap of just 0.043s over Marquez. Coming in third was Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso taking the last place on the podium.

Petrucci crossed the chequered flag 0.043s clear of Marquez

The race started with Marquez in the pole position followed by Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha in P2 and Petrucci in third place. Marquez was quick to take the lead with Petrucci moving up to second. Following up were Dovizioso, Suzuki's Alex Rins and Jack Miller of Pramac Ducati on the opening lap, while Quartararo dropped to P8 after a poor start. The Honda champion was in the lead for the first half of the race but only with Petrucci breathing down his neck throughout.

Dovizioso led the race briefly only to be passed by Petrucci in a three-way battle on Lap 20

The Ducati rider finally got to pass Marquez at the start of Lap 11 as the race reached halfway with the top five riders breaking away from the rest of the pack. It was close race from hereon as Marquez pressed hard to pass Petrucci. Bringing in some action was Dovizioso in the final stages when he briefly moved into the lead on Lap 20. However, Dovi couldn't hold the position for long. With two laps to go, Dovi, Marquez and Petrucci entered in a three-way battle, which allowed Marquez to squeeze Dovizioso down to third while Petrucci was able to retake the lead.

With Petrucci and Marquez finishing within a hair's length of each other, Dovizioso and Rins finished next 0.535s behind Petrucci. Coming in fifth was Takaki Nakagami of LCR Honda, taking his best-ever MotoGP finish after Miller crashed on Lap 16, while Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales finished in sixth place, after dropping down the order on the opening lap. The Yamaha rider climbed the order once again and passed LCR's Cal Crutchlow to take P6 on Lap 18 and held on to the position. Crutchlow finished at P8 after Ducati wildcard Michelle Piero passed the rider to take seventh. Quartararo ended up taking the 10th spot after a brilliant qualifying behind KTM's Oil Espargaro.

Yamaha's Valentino Rossi had a disappointing end to the race after crashing on Lap 8

Suzuki's Joan Mir finished 11th after an eventful day, after tangling with Yamaha's Valentino Rossi in the early stages, which pushed both the riders into gravel. The incident pushed Rossi to 21st before he crashed on Lap 8 retiring from the race. Also not in his best form was Jorge Lorenzo of Honda who managed to finish in 13th place, followed by Avintia Ducati's Karel Abraham and Andrea Iannone of Aprilia taking the final points. KTM riders  Miguel Oliveira and  Johann Zarco were the last finishers in the Italian GP.
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Apart from Miller and Rossi, the retirement list included Franco Morbidelli, making it a complete DNF for team Petronas Yamaha. Hafizh Syahrin of Tech3 KTM and Tito Rabat of Avintia Ducati retired in the pits.