Tito Rabat 5th, Alex Marquez 10th in difficult conditions at Indy

A brief rain shower immediately before the Indianapolis Grand Prix left the field facing a treacherous Moto2 race. A mature ride in the difficult conditions saw Tito Rabat finish fifth, despite struggling with tyre problems late in the race. Álex Márquez was involved in an intense battle throughout the race but stood his ground to take the chequered flag in 10th position.

Having dropped to ninth from the start, Rabat eased his way to the front over the course of the first nine laps. The battle at the front saw the reigning Moto2 World Champion fight as part of a five rider group and a drying line and slick tyres meant any mistakes would be severely punished, as a few riders discovered to their cost.

Rabat was surefooted throughout the race but struggled with a lack of rear grip. When the Spaniard started to ride more aggressively he suffered from chatter and when he was fighting with Franco Morbidelli in the closing stages he had no answers to the Italian when he barged down the inside. Rabat was lucky to avoid contact with Morbidelli but afterwards said that the incident was nothing to be concerned about and that he just didn’t have the grip to fight with him.

Márquez had one of his strongest races of the year and ran in the top ten for most of the 25-lap race. The reigning Moto3 World Champion showed consistent pace throughout and was rewarded with six points as well as a boost to his confidence after a difficult race at the Sachsenring ahead of the summer break.

Tito Rabat: 5th
“It was a little bit unfortunate because we have worked so well this weekend and then it started to rain before the race. The track changed a lot so I was trying to ride safely at the start but when I started to try and push harder as the race progressed I had a lot of chatter from the rear tyre. It’s unfortunate because the team did a great job this weekend and this result doesn’t reflect that. I was not so fast when I got into the battle with Morbidelli. My top speed was quite good but when I tried to carry more corner speed it was sliding a lot. I could accelerate well and pass slower riders, but with the faster riders I needed more corner speed and I couldn’t do it.”

Álex Márquez: 10th
“We worked very well this weekend. We still need to improve but this is the direction that we need to follow. We need to work a little bit more to maintain the pace at the end of the race but this was a good result. We need to keep pushing and I’m looking forward to Brno because it’s a track that I like and I want to go there and push hard. After Sachsenring we came here knowing that we couldn’t win the race here, but we also knew that we wouldn’t face the same issues. I believe that we can finish on the podium this year, but I need to continue to improve my riding style if we are to achieve this.”

Source: Marc VDS Racing