Jorge Lorenzo has rolled back the years to dominate with a lights-to-flag maiden victory for Ducati at the Italian MotoGP ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso, as championship leader Marc Marquezfalls early on.
In prime Ducati territory and with unrelenting speculation on his future with Italian manufacturer, Lorenzo produced the one of the races of his life to storm to a first-ever win for the team since joining from Yamaha last year.
Bolting into the lead from second on the grid behind pole-sitter Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo replicated his early race pace from Jerez and Le Mans where he also led the early laps. Unlike the previous two rounds the Spanish rider was able to notch up unrelenting consistency with his pace to gradually build a gap as the tussles for position developed behind him.
Marquez aggressively fought his way up to second place, having banged fairings with Danilo Petrucci on the opening lap which pushed the Italian wide, but on lap five the reigning MotoGP world champion lowsided off at Turn 10.
Marquez's off coupled with Dovizioso's charge up the order saw the Italian move into second place ahead of Rossi and went about hunting down his Ducati teammate.
But it was Lorenzo who triumphed, producing a performance echoing his dominant displays with Yamaha, as he gradually pushed out the gap to Dovizioso to take his first victory since Valencia in 2016.
Dovizioso almost lost second place to Rossi on the final lap after suffering a huge drop off in pace in the closing stages, as the Movistar Yamaha rider claimed back-to-back podiums after also finishing third at Le Mans.
Andrea Iannone gave Rossi a race-long tussle but had to settle for fourth place just 0.022s ahead of Suzuki teammate Alex Rins.
With Marquez out of contention, Cal Crutchlow took top honours for Honda in sixth place as Pramac Ducati's Petrucci also suffered a late race fade with the GP18 having been battling for third place with 10 laps to go.
Maverick Vinales fought back from a nightmare start, dropping from a front row start down to 10th, to take eighth place for Movistar Yamaha just ahead of Alvaro Bautista for the Angel Nieto Ducati squad.
Johann Zarco endured a difficult Italian MotoGP down in 10th place for Tech3 Yamaha ahead of top Red Bull KTM rider Pol Espargaro in 11th. Hafizh Syahrin claimed top rookie status once again with 12th place for Tech3 Yamaha as Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati), Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda) rounded out the points places.
Marquez remounted from his early off but could only reach 16th place but ahead of Xavier Simeon(Avintia Ducati) and Takaaki Nakagami on the LCR Honda.
There was a high rate of opening lap crashes including Jack Miller, Dani Pedrosa, Scott Redding, Karel Abraham and Thomas Luthi while Aleix Espargaro retired with a technical issue late on for Aprilia.
Race results from the 2018 Italian MotoGP at Mugello, round 6 of 19
- Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP18) 41m 43.230s
- Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP18) 41m 49.600s
- Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 41m 49.859s
- Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 41m 51.115s
- Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 41m 51.137s
- Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 41m 52.350s
- Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18) 41m 54.128s
- Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 41m 54.290s
- Alvaro Bautista ESP Angel Nieto Team (GP17) 41m 54.384s
- Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 42m 0.874s
- Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 42m 3.486s
- Hafizh Syahrin MAL Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 42m 5.665s
- Tito Rabat ESP Reale Avintia (GP17) 42m 5.694s
- Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 42m 5.725s
- Franco Morbidelli ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)* 42m 9.874s
- Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 42m 22.541s
- Xavier Simeon ESP Reale Avintia (GP16)* 42m 44.441s
- Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V)* 42m 34.319s
Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP17) DNF
Thomas Luthi SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)* DNF
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) DNF
Karel Abraham CZE Angel Nieto Team (GP16) DNF
Scott Redding GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
* Rookie