MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

With a grid determined by this morning's Superpole race, giving the winner his first ever pole position, Marcus Reiterberger was once again sent to the back of the grid to serve the strategic engine allocation penalty for a seventh engine for Razgatlioglu's BMW. Tyre choice was between the development and standard SCX tyres. Twenty three laps of the year's shortest circuit opened up at 27ºC, warmer than yesterday, with a matching band replacing yesterday's electric violin playing the Italian national anthem. The weekend attendance was 45,823 at a tiny track with a 20,000 capacity limit.

Danilo Petrucci aimed to be only the fourth rider to claim three wins in a weekend, starting from pole position. He led Andrea Iannone and Nicolo Bulega into turn one with Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista behind them. The three Ducatis retained the leading positions after one lap with Bulega taking second place from Iannone. Axel Bassani crashed out at turn eleven of lap two.

Nicolo Bulega took the fastest lap off Petrucci with a 1'29.438 as the pair started to break free of Iannone, Lowes, Bautista, Iker Lecuona, Andrea Locatelli, Xavi Vierge, Garrett Gerloff and Michael van der Mark. Iannone remained in touch with Bulega as he escaped from Alex Lowes but he started lap five over a second off the leaders as Lowes closed up. Petrucci led Bulega by under four tenths of a second and that gap held all lap as the pair led Iannone, Lowes and Bautista by almost two seconds.

Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista were both looking forward to the race coming to them as the laps counted down and they matched the pace of the three bikes ahead of them with Lecuona holding on behind them. Bautista passed Lowes down the back straight and passed Iannone as the yellow Ducati went wide in to the last turn, putting Bautista on the podium, two seconds off Bulega who was now half a second slower a lap.

Lap nine, Danilo Petrucci was still the only rider lapping under 1'30, gapping Bulega by two seconds with Bautista under two seconds further back, and at the end of the lap, Petrucci was one again the only rider in the 1'29s. Alex Lowes probed for a pass and cleanly snuck under Iannone into turn eight, under a second and a half from the podium.

Lap ten, all three red Ducatis in the lead matched pace, all under 1'30, with Bautista hundredths quicker than those ahead with a personal best lap as the race started to come to him.

At half race distance, third-placed Alvaro Bautista was the fastest man on track, still three and a half seconds off the leader Danilo Petrucci and a second and a half off Nicolo Bulega. Garret Gerloff and Iker Lecuona both made clean passes on Andrea Iannone, a second behind fourth-placed Alex Lowes who was two seconds off the podium.

Bautista clawed three tenths off Bulega on lap thirteen, just over a second off second place. Iannone dropped two places to ninth as Gerloff closed on to Lowes's tail to hound him for fourth place. Lowes held Gerloff off over lap fifteen and sixteen of twenty three as Bautista closed on Bulega ahead.

Andrea Iannone pitted in at the start of lap seventeen and Gerloff still couldn't find a way past Lowes.

Six laps left, Petrucci held a lead of over two seconds over Bulega and Bautista with Lowes and Gerloff over five seconds further back. With four laps remaining, Gerloff kept the pressure on Lowes, but still couldn't see a way past. The same was true in the fight between the Ducati teammates Bulega and Bautista for second place behind Petrucci. At the end of lap twenty one, Bautista closed to a hundredth of a second and passed into turn thirteen to start the penultimate lap two and a half seconds off Petrucci in second place and he cleared half a second over the lap.

At the end of lap twenty two of twenty three, Gerloff finally squeezed past Lowes to start the last lap in fourth place. Danilo Petrucci managed his lead on the last lap and crossed the finish like a second ahead of Alvaro Bautista with the podium filled by Nicolo Bulega almost two more seconds later.

Over five seconds later, Garrett Gerloff led Alex Lowes over the line, but all twenty thousand thirsty Italians were cheering Petrucci for the win and a very red Parc Fermé.

Danilo Petrucci becomes the first independent rider to take the hat trick, joining Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rea. Nicolo Bulega tried to take advantage of the absence of Toprak Razgatlioglu and ended the weekend thirteen points off the championship lead. Petrucci's run of wins puts him just three points off Alex Lowes's fourth place in the championship.

Three rounds remain, a total of one hundred and eighty six points, meaning six riders are in mathematical contention, but if Razgatlioglu returns next weekend, that number will drop rapidly.

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