Marquez completes a perfect weekend with teammate Pedrosa in 2nd
Respol Honda’s Marc Marquez has crowned a perfect weekend in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP with a sensational victory. Marc led every session over the weekend, broke the pole position record yesterday and also recorded a new fastest race lap of 1’39.044. Marc’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, took an impressive second place after battling with title rival Jorge Lorenzo in the final laps.
Marc suffered from a poor start and dropped back from pole to 3rd position by the first corner, with Dani in front of him in 2nd and Lorenzo taking the lead. The three Spanish riders held these positions, racing within tenths of second from each other, for the first nine laps. Then Championship leader Marc made his move and passed Dani. A few laps later, Marc had closed the gap on Lorenzo and on lap thirteen he passed him and slowly began to open a gap as he began to set fastest race laps, taking a new record on lap 18.
In the final laps, Dani found a final burst of energy and launched an attack on Lorenzo. With just two laps remaining, Dani passed Lorenzo to seize second place and complete a perfect weekend for the Repsol Honda Team. It was an inspiring ride from Dani who is still recovering from the injury sustained in Sachsenring just over a month ago.
The last eight MotoGP races in the USA have now been won by Honda riders and Marc becomes the first rider to take three MotoGP wins in the USA in a single season, having already won at both Austin and Laguna Seca. He’s the third rider of all-time to win three premier-class GP races in the same country in a single season (Jorge Lorenzo in 2010 – Jerez, Catalunya & Valencia, and Casey Stoner in 2011 – Catalunya, Aragon, Valencia, in both cases the three wins were from four races held in Spain). Marc is also the first rookie in the premier-class to win three back-to-back races since Kenny Roberts in 1978, who won in Austria, France and Mugello.
Marc Marquez – 1st – Championship Standing: 1st – 188 points
“I am very happy to have taken another 25 points! I knew before we came here that this would be a good opportunity and I was able to take advantage of it. I felt very good throughout the weekend, and I think this has been my best GP overall since coming into the premier class. I was first in every session, so I couldn’t ask for more. In the race I decided to follow Lorenzo and Pedrosa, trying to save my tyres at the start. When I saw that I was feeling good and had less fuel in the tank, I tried to attack. In the end I was able to break away and have some fun sliding the bike around and enjoying how good the ride was! Now we head back to Europe, where we will try to continue working in the same way and see how many points we can pick up”
Dani Pedrosa – 2nd – Championship Standing: 2nd – 167 points
“Today I gave all I had. I struggled to keep my energy up and I was forced to ride in a different way because of the pain I was suffering. It was a difficult race, because I was fighting a lot against the bike but in the end I was able to keep up my pace and take a good second place! In other conditions I’m sure we would have done better, but we did all that we could under the circumstances today and should draw that positive from the day”
Source: Repsol Honda Team
