MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4 / MAY 3-5, 2019
CIRCUITO DE JEREZ / JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN
P88
said. Then as he tried to change up from third onto
the back straight, it all went wrong. The gear-lever was
somehow jammed, and his race was over. He toured
back to the pits, in floods of tears. "It was something
so small, that cost a lot," he said later.
On the same lap, Rins got ahead of Morbidelli,
who was now switching to "safety mode, after the tire
dropped a lot."
Rins was safe in second but too far to think of at-
tacking Marquez, again realizing: "I need to improve
my qualifying. I lost a lot of time behind Dovi."
In any case, Marquez broke the lap record for a
second time on lap 15, to underline his advantage. "I
needed to show my opponents that, yes, I can make a
mistake, but I am still confident."
Vinales was still going strong, comfortably ahead of
the fading Morbidelli on lap 16. Dovizioso followed him
past, and Petrucci next time around.
tararo and Morbidelli were lining up for only their
fourth race together. "I speak for both of us," said
Morbidelli, "when I say it is a great team. It is new,
but there are some very experienced people in it,
and there is a lot of passion and a lot of energy."
The team is managed by former 250 racer Johann
Stigefelt and includes ex-factory team rider coach
Wilco Zeelenberg.
IANNONE OUT
Andrea Iannone was the worst off of several fallers
in two days of practice, out of the race with, as yet,
not fully diagnosed ankle problems. Other MotoGP
riders to have serious-looking high-speed falls
were Hafizh Syahrin, Johann Zarco (twice), Bradley
Smith and Cal Crutchlow, the last two bringing out
red flags. But all were able to get going again.
Briefly...
Fabio Quartararo (20)
put it on pole for the first
time ever but was cruelly
denied a podium spot with
a mechanical failure while
running second.
