MotoGP 2017: Viñales, Morbidelli and Mir Repeat Wins in Argentina
The 2017 Argentine motorcycle Grand Prix was a carbon copy of the Qatar GP, as Viñales, Morbidelli and Mir each repeated their victories in their respective categories.
Second round of the 2017 motorcycle World Championship and Maverick Viñales’s second victory. The new rider for the Movistar Yamaha team could not have started the season better, first with his win at the Qatar GP and now with victory at the Argentine GP, on a circuit, Termas de Río Hondo, that theoretically favored Honda and Marc Márquez.
However, Márquez crashed in the first laps, while he was leading the race, leaving the way clear for Viñales to claim another victory and add 50 points to his overall standings. Lorenzo and Pedrosa suffered the same fate, by the way. With that, the podium was completed by Italy’s Valentino Rossi and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow.
Morbidelli wins in Moto2 after Márquez’s crash
In the Moto2 category, the younger of the Márquez brothers, Alex, also crashed while trying to overtake Franco Morbidelli on the last lap, in an attempt to avoid the incident that ultimately gave the Italian rider his second victory of the season. Morbidelli, aboard a Kalex, dominated the race from start to finish.
The rider starting from pole position, Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira, took advantage of the Spanish rider’s fall to finish second, as did Switzerland’s Thomas Lüthi, who, without even trying, found himself on the podium. The best of our riders was Xavi Vierge, in fifth place, while only one other Spanish rider, Jorge Navarro, made it into the points.
Joan Mir also takes his second victory
Two out of two for Joan Mir in the Moto3 category. The 19-year-old Spanish rider won in Qatar and also won in Argentina to reach 50 points, in a fairly exciting and tight race, with five riders (three from Honda and two from KTM) crossing the finish line within the same second.
Mir’s victory was all the more meritorious, since he started from 16th place on the grid. Despite that, it took him only six laps to join the leading group alongside four other riders: John McPhee, Jorge Martín, Philipp Ottl and Andrea Migno. The Scotsman and the Spaniard were to accompany Mir on the podium, just as had happened in the Qatar race.
More on motorcycling at Higmotor Motos
Via | MotoGP