The race started with Miguel Oliveira as the polesitter, the Portuguese rider continuing class newcomer KTM's impressive start to the year.

However, at the start, Morbidelli forced his way past Oliveira, who got shuffled further down the order, allowing Marquez and Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) through as well.

While he quickly took third back, the Marc VDS duo of Morbidelli and Marquez at the front pulled away, the former quickly opening up a lead of half a second.

But in the second half of the race Marquez and Oliveira started to consistently inch closer to the leader, with the Spanish rider right on the tail of his teammate as the final five laps began.

Two laps later, Marquez managed to find his way by Morbidelli, only for the Italian to fight back immediately.

The Spaniard continued to pile the pressure on Morbidelli, but pushed too hard and crashed out on the final lap at Turn 7.

Morbidelli therefore escaped with his second straight victory, as Oliveira, who couldn't keep up with the Marc VDS teammates in the final laps, inherited second.

"It's really nice to win again after Qatar," said Morbidelli. "I tried to pull away, and I didn't manage to, but at the end I had a bit more. Unfortunately Alex crashed, but a good result for me."

Luthi completed the podium nearly nine seconds adrift, followed by Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward).

Sandro Cortese (Intact) led a group of several riders in what had been the fight for sixth, but it was Xavi Vierge (Tech 3) who finally secured the spot that became fifth after Marquez's crash.

Simone Corsi (Speed Up) was sixth ahead of top rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing VR46) and Cortese.

Brad Binder, still struggling with an arm injury, brought the second Ajo-run KTM into the top 10 in ninth, followed by Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline).

Qatar podium finisher Takaaki Nakagami was one of several early casualties, as the Japanese rider lost control of his bike and took both himself and Remy Gardner out at Turn 1 at the start.

Axel Pons and Fabio Quartararo later made contact, both ending up in the gravel as a result, while Xavier Simeon also suffered a heavy highside crash.

Race results:

Pos.	#	Driver	Bike	Time/Gap
1	21	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex	39'50.036
2	44	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1.683
3	12	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	10.551
4	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	15.577
5	97	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	24.527
6	24	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	24.783
7	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	24.965
8	11	Sandro Cortese	Suter	25.156
9	41	Brad Binder	KTM	25.622
10	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	25.933
11	23	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	26.139
12	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	26.456
13	2	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	26.697
14	77	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	27.461
15	9	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	27.628
16	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	36.690
17	32	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	39.132
18	60	Julian Simon	Kalex	39.297
19	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	39.444
20	54	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	43.908
21	73	Alex Marquez	Kalex	44.165
22	68	Yonny Hernandez	Kalex	45.719
23	62	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	52.618
24	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	59.071
25	47	Axel Bassani	Speed Up	1'02.113
Ret	52	Danny Kent	Suter	11 laps
Ret	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	16 laps
Ret	19	Xavier Simeon	Kalex	21 laps
Ret	49	Axel Pons	Kalex	22 laps
Ret	40	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	22 laps
Ret	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	22 laps
Ret	87	Remy Gardner	Tech 3