MotoGP returns to action this weekend at Misano for the thirteenth round of the season.
At the top
Marc Marquez goes into the weekend with a seventy eight point lead over his nearest rival, Andrea Dovizioso after Marquez finished second in Britain while Dovizioso retired after being collected in a first corner incident.
Despite Dovizioso failing to finish at Silverstone, he is still a relatively comfortable twenty three points ahead of third placed, Alex Rins.
Rins won last time out, his second victory of the season and took third place in the championship from the other factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci who hasn’t been able to finish inside the top five since the German Grand Prix, before the series summer break.
Petrucci however has a relatively comfortable lead of his own to the next rider behind him in the standings, Maverick Vinales, who claimed a podium finish in the previous race, his third in the last five races.
Embed from Getty ImagesTwenty seven points separate the two with Vinales having finished ahead of Petrucci in four of the last five races, including last time out at the British Grand Prix.
Vinales however is only two points ahead of his teammate, Valentino Rossi with the Italian having finished fourth in the last two Grand Prix and finishing ahead of Vinales at Brno.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere is a twenty two point gap between Rossi and the next rider in the standings, Jack Miller. Miller isn’t too comfortable at the moment, only two points ahead of Fabio Quartararo with the two closely matched since returning from the summer break with both finishing third and both recording a retirement. However Quartararo finished seventh in Brno in the Czech Republic while Miller’s only other finish since the series returned was an eighth place finish in Britain.
The rest of the top ten and just outside
Cal Crutchlow is currently ninth in the standings and is four points behind Quartararo and nineteen ahead of tenth placed Franco Morbidelli.
Crutchlow has finished inside the top six in three of the last four races while Morbidelli has only finished once inside the top six over the same period.
Embed from Getty ImagesMorbidelli however is part of a group of three in the standings covered by just seven points with KTM’s Pol Espargaro only one point behind Morbidelli while Takaaki Nakagami is six points behind Espargaro and a further point behind Morbidelli.
Espargaro has been the most consistent of the three this season, finishing inside the points in eleven of the twelve races contested so far, compared with Morbidelli’s eight races and Nakagami’s nine races.
Embed from Getty ImagesMorbidelli’s highest finish of the season to date has been fifth place, which he has achieved on three occasions including last time out at the British Grand Prix. Espargaro’s highest finish has been sixth, which he achieved at the French Grand Prix while Nakagami’s highest finish has been fifth, which he achieved at the Italian Grand Prix.
Elsewhere
After a difficult start and middle to the 2019 season, Francesco Bagnaia is on a decent run of form, scoring points in the last three races, the longest streak outside of the top ten. His highest finish on this current run was seventh, which he achieved at the Austrian Grand Prix.
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The Motorsport Critic 