Suzuki’s Alex Rins seals victory at Aragon

Repsol Honda’s Alex Marquez claimed his second podium in succession with Rins’ team-mate Joan Mir in third.

From the lights it was Maverick Viñales on the Monster Energy Yamaha who led into Turn 1 followed by pole-setter and championship leader, Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

It was Rins’ home race and the Spaniard was determined to make it to the front and by lap eight had passed Viñales and immediately opened a gap over the chasing pack.

Quartararo, who had two massive crashes over the weekend, was in trouble and dropping back through the field to eventually finish 18th, out of the points as he lost his lead in the championship.

At the front Rins was pushing hard but so was Marquez, who had closed on Viñales and Mir by half race distance.

By lap 14 he had disposed of the Yamaha rider and was closing fast on Mir in second.

Marquez then squeezed past Mir and had his sights firmly set on the race leader. The two Spaniards were wheel-to-wheel going into the penultimate lap but it was Marquez who made the first mistake, allowing Rins to open a slight gap and try as he might the Honda rider just couldn’t get close enough to challenge for the win.

Rins was a delighted race winner as was Marquez in second, while third-placed Mir goes to the top of the championship on 121 points - six clear of Quartararo on 115 with Viñales third on 109.

There was a second consecutive win for British rider Alex Lowes in the Moto2 class after a race long battle with Marco Bezzecchi ended on the penultimate lap when the VR46 Team Sky rider crashed out at Turn 2.

It was a great afternoon for Jake Dixon as the Petronas rider claimed fourth for his best finish of his rookie season while Scotland’s John McPhee was fifth in the Moto3 class.