Maverick Vinales scored a second successive MotoGP victory in Argentina, taking advantage of a crash for early leader Marc Marquez to win by three seconds from teammate Valentino Rossi.

Poleman Marquez raced to an early lead on the Repsol Honda, establishing a cushion of more than two seconds out front in the first three laps. But the Spaniard’s charge came to an abrupt end as he lost the front end of the RC213V – which he fitted with a hard front tyre and a medium rear – at Turn 2 on lap four. That gifted the advantage to Vinales, who from sixth on the grid had made his way up to third on the opening lap before clearing Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda for second on the third lap, while running medium tyres front and rear.

From there, it was plain sailing for the Yamaha rider, who cruised to a second straight victory to add to the one he picked up two weeks ago in Qatar – and the third of his premier class career. Behind, Crutchlow and Rossi battled it out for second place, with the Italian rider shadowing his rival for a number of laps before finally making his move at Turn 5 on the 19th lap of 25.Crutchlow kept close company with Rossi for the remaining laps, but was forced to settle for third as the seven-time champion made it a Yamaha one-two on his 350th Grand Prix start, finishing 2.915s behind Vinales. Alvaro Bautista was a surprise fourth for Aspar Ducati, helped by a crash for the second Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa on lap 14 at Turn 2 – the same location as teammate Marquez.

Johann Zarco finished fifth, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Jonas Folger, who passed Danilo Petrucci’s Pramac Ducati on the penultimate lap. Scott Redding took eighth on the second of the Pramac bikes, followed by Jack Miller’s Marc VDS Honda and front row starter Karel Abraham on the second Aspar Ducati, who scored his first top 10 finish since 2012.

It was a miserable day for the works Ducatis, the Italian marque’s misfortune starting when Jorge Lorenzo crashed at the first corner after making contact with the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone. Lorenzo’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso found himself taken out by another rider for a second year in a row in Argentina, as Aleix Espargaro lost the front end of his Aprilia at Turn 5 and skittled into Dovizioso.Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati) was 11th, recovering after being baulked by the Lorenzo/Iannone incident, followed by Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Honda) and Hector Barbera on the second Avintia bike. KTM scored a double-points finish in its second race as a full MotoGP manufacturer, as Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith rounded out the scorers in 14th and 15th.

Iannone was the only other rider to finish, after serving a ride-through for jumping the start – an error that compounded a dismal outing for Suzuki, as Alex Rins also crashed outAprilia also failed to get either of its bike to the finish as a gear selection issue ended Sam Lowes’ race.

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