Marc Marquez claimed his seventh victory of the MotoGP season after a fantastic last-lap battle with Pol Espargaro in an interrupted San Marino Grand Prix.
Espargaro (Pons Kalex) had led into the final lap, but Marquez (Monlau Suter) made his move at Quercia to seize the initiative.
Espargaro responded instantly, only to see Marquez come back again through Tremonto.
Still the pair were not done, with Espargaro attacking once more down the back straight. He stole ahead, but Marquez kept his cool, moved to the inside through Carro and forced Espargaro slightly wide, earning enough momentum to cross the line 0.3sec ahead of his title rival. As a result, Marquez now leads the championship by 53 points.
The last-lap fight came after a relatively quiet opening to a race which was interrupted when, three laps in, Gino Rea's engine blew and laid down a film of oil in the final turns, leading to a lengthy red flag period.
Speed Master Speed Up's Andrea Iannone - bidding to win both his home soil races - had already passed Marquez for the lead and therefore inherited pole for the restart, an advantage he held for the majority of the 14 remaining laps. He was unable to respond once Marquez and Espargaro upped their pace however, and had to settle for the final step of the podium.
Marc VDS duo Mika Kallio and Scott Redding finished fourth and seventh, sandwiching Esteve Rabat (Pons Kalex) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter).
Results - 14 laps:
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time/Gap
1. Marc Marquez Monlau Suter 23m11.278s
2. Pol Espargaro Pons Kalex + 0.359s
3. Andrea Iannone Speed Master Speed Up + 1.634s
4. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Kalex + 5.078s
5. Esteve Rabat Pons Kalex + 5.246s
6. Dominique Aegerter Technomag-CIP Suter + 5.570s
7. Scott Redding Marc VDS Kalex + 6.364s
8. Bradley Smith Tech 3 + 6.853s
9. Thomas Luthi Paddock Suter + 7.480s
10. Johann Zarco JIR Motobi + 7.989s
11. Takaaki Nakagami Italtrans Kalex + 8.560s
12. Julian Simon Avintia Suter + 11.509s
13. Alex de Angelis Forward FTR + 18.329s
14. Claudio Corti Italtrans Kalex + 18.342s
15. Nicolas Terol Aspar Suter + 18.568s
16. Jordi Torres Aspar Suter + 18.687s
17. Axel Pons Pons Kalex + 18.862s
18. Mike di Meglio Kiefer Kalex + 25.645s
19. Ratthapark Wilairot Gresini Suter + 30.003s
20. Anthony West QMMF Speed Up + 32.439s
21. Tomoyoshi Koyama Technomag-CIP Suter + 33.121s
22. Marcel Schrotter SAG Bimota + 33.258s
23. Alessandro Andreozzi Speed Master Speed Up + 33.532s
24. Marco Colandrea SAG FTR + 47.303s
Retirements:
Yuki Takahashi Forward FTR 8 laps
Simone Corsi Ioda FTR 8 laps
Xavier Simeon Tech 3 6 laps
Elena Rosell QMMF Speed Up 1 lap
Gino Rea Gresini Suter 0 laps
Steven Odendaal Arguinano AJR 0 laps
Randy Krummenacher Switzerland Kalex 0 laps