MOVISTAR Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took his 84th MotoGP victory in Argentina as Marc Marquez crashed out after clipping the Italian’s rear tyre.

Track temperature was a huge talking point in the MotoGP paddock this weekend as riders were faced with the dilemma of which tyre choice to make as tyre-life was an issue last year. To attempt to combat this, Bridgestone released an extra hard option for the Termas de rio Hondo circuit.   

Both Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow decided to switch to the hard compound rear tyre at the last minute. In contrast, Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo went for the extra hard option. 

Surprisingly it was Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro who led the field into turn one on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR, but it wasn’t long until Marquez resumed his usual position – leading. 

The young Spaniard pulled out an advantage of 0.8s by the end of the first lap by using the using the extra grip of the hard tyre early on in the race to extend this lead to over 4 seconds. 

36-year-old Rossi gradually carbed his way thorough the pack from 8th on the grid, mugging Dovizioso of second with 15 laps to go. With no-one else in his way, Rossi set his sights on Marquez who’s tyre performance was beginning to fade.

Lap-by-lap the Italian was becoming quicker than Marquez and it was visibly possible to see how close Rossi was to pouncing, but Marquez was not giving up without a fight.

The Italian slipped up the inside of Marquez before they both touched a couple of times which ultimately saw Marquez clip the rear tyre of Rossi’s bike and crash out of contention. Marquez’s frustration was clearly visible, but Race Direction ruled it was a ‘racing incident’ and therefore no further action was taken.

Rossi took the win by over five seconds with Dovizioso slotting into second. CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow claimed the final podium position after battling with Ducati’s Andrea Iannone who finished in fourth.

Nine seconds back, Bradley Smith finished in sixth behind Jorge Lorenzo. Aleix finished in seventh after leading the race to begin with as younger brother Pol finished in eighth.

CWM LCR Honda’s rookie Jack Miller took the Open class victory finishing in 12th in his third race in the premier class.  

Race results:

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:35.644
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 41:41.329 (+5.685)
3. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda 41:43.942 (+8.298)
4. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 41:43.996 (+8.352)
5. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:45.836 (+10.192)
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41:55.520 (+19.876)
7. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:59.977 (+24.333)
8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42:3.314 (+27.670)
9. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 42:10.041 (+34.397)
10. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 42:10.452 (+34.808)
11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing 42:15.850 (+40.206)
12. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda 42:18.298 (+42.654)
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 42:18.373 (+42.729)
14. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing 42:18.497 (+42.853)
15. Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing 42:18.681 (+43.037)
16. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team 42:18.896 (+43.252)
17. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 42:19.044 (+43.400)
18. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing 42:19.452 (+43.808)
19. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini  42:20.522 (+44.878)
20. Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini 42:31.880 (+56.236)
21. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 42:39.015 (+1:03.371)
22. Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing 42:44.088 (+1:08.444)

DNF. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Repsol Honda Team
DNF. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team
DNF. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing