MotoGP Grand Prix of Spain 2017 Results: Dani Pedrosa Tops Marc Marquez

Dani Pedrosa headed a Spanish one-two-three as he prevailed at the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday at the Circuito de Jerez.

The pole-sitter held off a late surge from his Repsol Honda team-mate Marc Marquez and eventually claimed victory by more than six seconds, while Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo completed the podium lineup for his best result of the season by a distance.

Rookie Johann Zarco impressed hugely to take fourth place as he pushed Lorenzo all the way to the finish. And Movistar Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales finished 10th and sixth, respectively, seeing the battle at the top of the championship tighten up significantly.

Here are the final standings for the race:

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	25	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	45'26.827
2	20	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+6.136
3	16	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+14.767
4	13	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+17.601
5	11	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+22.913
6	10	Maverick VINALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+24.556
7	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	+24.959
8	8	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+27.721
9	7	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+31.233
10	6	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+38.682
11	5	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	+40.979
12	4	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+43.199
13	3	Loris BAZ	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+43.211
14	2	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+47.964
15	1	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	+51.279
16		Sam LOWES	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+1'08.885
17		Takuya TSUDA	JPN	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+1'27.450
Not Classified
		Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	18 Laps
		Tito RABAT	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	18 Laps
		Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	22 Laps
		Jack MILLER	AUS	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	22 Laps
		Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	22 Laps
		Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	22 Laps

BT Sport MotoGP provided a look at the front of the grid ahead of the race start in Andalucia:

Suzuki's Andrea Iannone made the best move at the start as he went up in to third place.

But it was Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Zarco who was most eye-catching in the early stages as he moved up as high as second before dropping behind Marquez and settling in third.

With 22 laps to go, Cal Crutchlow crashed out the race from fourth, per MotoGP.com:

Meanwhile, Pedrosa looked comfortable on the front as Ducati's Lorenzo, who has endured a tough start to the new season after switching teams, made fine progress through the field having started eighth on the grid. 

It became abundantly clear after the midway point the winner would come from Repsol Honda, with the Spanish duo of Pedrosa and Marquez lapping significantly faster than the rest of the field.

With 10 laps to go, Marquez, with a hard rear tyre, began to close on Pedrosa at the front. However, despite at one point cutting the gap down to under a second, the three-time world champion was kept at arm's length.

He clearly decided late on he had no chance of catching his team-mate, and Pedrosa cruised home for his first race victory of the year.