A BRUISED and battered Fabio Quartararo endured a nightmare outing at the Aragon Motorcycle Grand Prix which cost him the championship lead yesterday.
Spanish riders Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda) and Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) notched a popular 1-2-3 finish on home soil which saw the Yamaha machines fail to live up to the promise they had shown in qualifying.
Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team's (SRT) Franco Morbidelli finished sixth, but Quartararo could only manage a disappointing 18th.
With Quartararo out of the points, Mir's third place was enough to see him take the championship lead. Mir now has 121 points while Quartararo is second on 115.
Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha), who finished fourth yesterday, is third with 109 points.
In Moto2, Le Mans winner Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) clinched his second win in a row with a well-calculated ride at Aragon.
Italtrans Racing Team's Enea Bastianini took second (+4.195s) to move back into the championship lead while Red Bull KTM Ajo's Jorge Martin (+4.340s) completed the podium.
Petronas Sprinta Racing's Jake Dixon, who qualified a career-best fourth, backed it up with an equally impressive performance to also finish fourth (+9.298s).
Dixon said tyre degradation held him back in the second half of the race.
"However, it is still my best result to date," said Dixon.
Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG) was also in strong form, finishing just one place behind Dixon in fifth (14.765s).
Dixon's teammate Xavi Vierge finished just out of the points in 16th (+26.747s) while Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah settled for 19th (+27.761s). Rookie Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin was 25th (+58.178s).
In Moto3, Spaniard Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) clinched victory on home soil after starting from 17th on the grid.
CIP Green Power's Darryn Binder, who will move to Petronas Sprinta next season was second (+0.091s) while Red Bull KTM Ajo's Raul Fernandez took third (+0.196s).
Petronas Sprinta Racing's John McPhee did well to come back from a long lap penalty to finish fifth (+0.368s) and earn 11 valuable points.
Teammate Khairul Idham Pawi, who started from 28th on the grid, settled for 27th (+36.739s).
The world championships will remain at Aragon for the Teruel Grand Prix this weekend.