MotoGP: Unstoppable Marquez wins great Barcelona battle with Rossi and Pedrosa
The Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya produced another brilliant race on Sunday, with Marc Marquez securing the victory on the final lap ahead of Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.
Marquez crossed the line half a second in front of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Rossi, surviving a late scare as Pedrosa touched his rear wheel in the final stages, the latter almost crashing and having to settle for third.
The win is the 100th for Honda in the modern MotoGP™ four-stroke era and the triumph for Marquez was also historic as it came on the same day as an earlier Moto3™ victory for his brother Alex Marquez – the first time 65 years of World Championship competition that siblings have won Grand Prix races on the same day.
Rossi led for much of the race with the Repsol Honda duo chasing him down in the final stages, with Pedrosa returning to form following his recent arm pump surgery and subsequent problems – only to make that late mistake. The threat of rain lingered for the duration of the race, though a light shower was short-lived.
Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) followed the front three throughout the race but was never quite close enough to join the podium fight. He eventually crossed the finishing line 2.7s behind Pedrosa.
Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fifth, staying in position despite running wide early on, whilst Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) finished just under two seconds in front of his brother Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) in sixth.
The top ten was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).
Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) crashed out early on, with Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) falling midrace, the yellow flags caused by the Frenchman’s flag initially distracting the front runners in their intense battle at the front.
Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) both retired due to technical issues.
Moto2: Rabat cruises to win in front of home fans
The Spanish Marc VDS Racing Team rider crossed the line 4.2 ahead of Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), with Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) a further seven seconds back, after an incident packed race.
Zarco won a late battle for third, overcoming Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) and Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) in the final stages.
The top ten was completed by Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) , Ricard Cardus (Tech 3), Axel Pons (AGR Team), Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3) and Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team).
Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) were both in the podium hunt until a late lowside crash by Torres ended his race, with Aegerter forced wide – the Swiss rider eventually finishing 14th.
Jonas Folger (AGR Team) saw his race ended prematurely as he crashed after taking evasive action to avoid hitting Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40). The Spaniard hit the ground in front of the German rider, with Salom later taken to hospital for treatment on a fractured finger.
Randy Krummenacher (IodaRacing Project), Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru Team JiR Webike) were amongst those who also suffered crashes, but none were injured.
Moto3: Alex Marquez storms to Barcelona-Catalunya victory
In his 35th Grand Prix, having qualified on pole for the first time, Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Marquez took his second Moto3™ win, after triumphing at Motegi last year
The Spanish rider crossed the line a clear 3.2s gap ahead of his nearest rival, to delight the home crowd, giving Honda a Moto3 victory to end KTM’s winning streak.
Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3 youngster Bastianini produced a great ride from second on the grid to finish on the podium in second place in just his seventh Grand Prix. Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) was third as he followed Bastianini home, trailing by just over a quarter of a second.
Championship leader Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rode intelligently to fourth place, gaining crucial extra points in the standings as he moved up from eighth in the final stages.
Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) was fifth, with the improving Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing) sixth on Mahindra machinery.
Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team) was seventh, whilst Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) was eighth after surviving a big scare as he ran off track and somehow managed to stay upright when a crash seemed almost inevitable on the last lap.
The top ten was completed by John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) and Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46).
Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) retired early due to a mechanical problem, whilst there were crashes for Niccolo Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN), Hafiq Azmi (SIC-Ajo KTM) and Maria Herrera (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) – though none of them were seriously hurt.
Ducati Report
Andrea Dovizioso finished the Catalunya Grand Prix, round 7 of the MotoGP World Championship held today at the Montmeló circuit near Barcelona, in eighth place. Starting from row 3 of the grid, the Italian rider kept up a good pace for the 25 laps, and he took the chequered flag just behind Pol Espargarò, with whom he had battled for much of the race.
Unfortunately his team-mate Cal Crutchlow continues to be hit by bad luck. This time the British rider returned to the pits after ten laps because of a technical problem that led him to retire.
Michele Pirro, the Ducati Test Team test-rider, finished the Catalan race in fourteenth place on his GP14 “lab” bike.
The two Ducati Team riders will now remain behind at the Catalan track tomorrow to take part in the IRTA tests, together with Pirro, who will also be at Montmeló on Tuesday and Wednesday to continue development work on the GP14 and test new software.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 8th – “I am pleased with the pace that we managed to keep up for the entire race as well as the final gap, and this is the most important aspect from today. For sure eighth place is not a great result in itself, but we were able to cut the gap by half from last year, in a race that was even faster. I fought it out with Pol Espargarò for almost the entire race, and we were separated by just a few thousandths of a second at the end. I think we obtained the best possible result this weekend.”
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – DNF – “Unfortunately also here at Barcelona I never managed to finish the race. We had a problem from the first laps with the bike, which was behaving strange and it didn’t allow me to ride the way I wanted to. Then a load of warning lights came on, the bike stopped and I had to retire. We’re not having much luck at the moment, but we have to arrive positive to the next race and try our best again: I’m not one to give up and Assen was kind to me last year so hopefully we can have a good race there and reverse the trend.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 14th – “To be honest I hoped to do a bit better today, but right from the early laps I realized that the bike had a problem with the electronics. As I was racing with new software, maybe it was just a teething problem. At this point I concentrated on finishing to gather some useful indications for future development.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager) – “Obviously we are very disappointed that once again Cal’s bike had a problem during the race: it’s something that should not happen. We are analyzing all the data carefully to understand the true nature of the problem. Andrea gave his all right until the very end, recording a time of 1’43.3 on the final lap and keeping a constant pace throughout the entire race. We’ve still got a lot of work to do but at this moment, if we look at our gap from the front guys, we can be moderately satisfied.”
HRC Report
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) won a stupendous seventh victory from seven races, at the end of an unforgettable battle with team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) that was only settled in the final few corners.
It was Marquez’s 13th premier-class victory (from just 25 starts!) which also made Honda the first manufacturer to achieve 100 wins in MotoGP, the four-stroke category introduced in 2002.
Once again the 21-year-old Spaniard proved he is the master of every situation, willing to fight to the bitter end of a race, however great his World Championship points advantage might be. After seven of the year’s 18 races he now leads the title chase with a perfect 175 points, 58 points ahead of today’s runner-up finisher Rossi. Pedrosa holds third place overall after finishing a close third today.
The race was greeted by the paddock as one of the greatest in recent memory, with four riders in with a chance of victory for much of the 25 laps. In the closing stages the fight came down to three men: Marquez, Rossi and pole-starter Pedrosa, while Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) slipped back to finish a lonely fourth.
Rossi did most of the leading but it was always obvious that Marquez was simply biding his time, waiting for the right moment to thrust his RC213V into the lead. He looked like he might do it at Turn One at the start of lap 14 but he ran so close to Rossi that he had to take avoiding action and run wide, dropping himself to third place behind his team-mate.
In typical Marquez style, he counter-attacked Pedrosa immediately, diving past a few corners later and then grabbing the lead from Rossi a few laps later at Turn One. Then followed a confusing moment: Marquez saw a yellow warning flag at Turn Three and slowed, as did Pedrosa right behind him. By the time they’d got to the next corner Rossi had charged back into the lead but he only stayed there for a lap before Marquez was back in front.
Rossi was still not done, however, and snuck inside Marquez with four laps to go, only to be immediately relegated to second by the World Champion, who never waits a moment longer than necessary to counter attack. Then Pedrosa found a way past Rossi and the scene was set for a Repsol Honda showdown.
On the last lap Pedrosa took the lead at Turn One, Marquez was back in front two corners later, then Pedrosa retook first place at the very next corner, only to run fractionally wide, allowing Marquez to squeeze back ahead.
As they rode through the final section of the last lap Pedrosa was looking for a way past, his front tyre snagging the rear of Marquez’s machine which sent him wobbling off the racing line, allowing Rossi to reclaim second place. And that’s how one of the greatest races of the last decade or two finished: Marquez first, Rossi second, 0.5 seconds down and Pedrosa third, a further 1.3 seconds back.
Marquez’s latest success completed a Spanish monopoly of today’s racing and also made some more history, along with his younger brother Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) who won the earlier Moto3 race, making them the first fraternal winners at a Grand Prix in history. And all this on the weekend that motorcycling’s World Championships celebrated their 65th birthday. The first World Championship event was staged on the Isle of Man on 13 June 1949.
In among all the drama and history, Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) had a sterling ride to fifth. The German, badly battered by two huge crashes on race day at Mugello, ran with the lead group for the first quarter of the race, until he had a major moment at Turn Ten. From there he raced alone for his best result since April’s Argentine GP.
Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) was an early retirement from the race, withdrawing with a suspected electrical glitch.
Rookie Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R) had another brilliant ride to cross the line as top RCV1000R rider in 12th, just ahead of the similarly mounted Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) who is still recovering from post Mugello surgery on a persistent right-wrist injury. Redding, however, was later relegated one position for allegedly cutting Turn One during the race, thus promoting Hayden to 12th.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) took the final point in 15th place after a long duel with Michele Pirro (Ducati). Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) was the first man to exit the race, sliding off after two laps.
After a brilliant day of racing, MotoGP and Moto2 teams will stay to test here over the next two days. Riders may get to try the Formula 1 chicane in the final section of the lap following a tumble during today’s Moto3 race in which Niccolo Antonelli (KTM) and his bike hit the barrier. The Italian was uninjured.
The race action continues in two weeks with the Dutch round of the series at Assen, the only venue that has remained on the calendar since 1949.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: race winner – “I am delighted with this win because this is a track which I have always found difficult. You could see how tough it was for me this weekend: I missed out on pole for the first time this season and had my first crash of the year. The race was very hard with a battle against Dani, Jorge and Valentino. I think that the last few corners were especially spectacular, with the moves by Valentino and Dani. I am very happy about taking another 25 points and also to win on the same day as my brother at home in front of all our fans! It’s something very special.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd – “It was a very good, hard-fought race because we had four riders up at the front for most of the race. There was a lot of overtaking and it was very intense, because we were going so fast. Overall I am very satisfied, even though the end result was not the best. We fought hard and I felt much better physically. I’ll take the positives from this race: I got my wish of being up at the front, both in practice and in the early laps of the race, and I ended the race fighting with Marc for the victory!”
Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th – “We are quite happy because I am the best satellite rider just behind the factory teams. First of all I want to thank my team because after the difficult weekend in Mugello we had a great weekend making a good job with the bike setting and the tyre choice. Today I was the only rider on the hard front tyre and I felt comfortable with that. But it’s tough for me to keep the pace of the top riders because it seems that they always have something more. Fifth place is the maximum we could do and it’s a positive result but, as a MotoGP rider, you always race for a podium finish and today I wanted to go for that but as I said it’s very difficult to beat the factory riders.”
Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 12th – “I didn’t start too well today and it took me a few laps to get on the pace. It is not easy to start from 16th position. However, as the laps went by I saw that the bike was working very well, so I pushed ahead. I had a lot of confidence in the front end, and that allowed me to push hard. On the other hand, I knew that with the heat, the rear performance would decrease at the end. Fortunately I managed to keep my pace up and gain some places. After how the weekend went, it isn’t a spectacular result but gives us points after two unlucky races. At Assen we hope to continue the positive work we did today and get plenty more points.”
Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 13th – “I’m happy with my race, although early on I touched with Crutchlow, losing one second and this enabled Hayden to get closer to me. In the end, regardless of the penalty, we still managed to be the best Open Honda, hitting the target we set ourselves. I’m also happy because I did well on this track which is certainly not one of my favourites. We chose to use the soft tyre, which was a risk and in end proved to be a wrong choice. Regarding the penalty, I had a problem in Turn One, so rather than risk falling I preferred to go slightly right; doing so I gained a little time, but in the next sector of the track I slowed down. Nevertheless, they added a time penalty to my race time, even though I had slowed down. It is difficult to accept because if I had not slowed down, the penalty would have maintained my position. I’m a little disappointed, but I cannot do anything about it.”
Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 15th – “Yesterday we did not qualify well and today we had to start from 20th position. I made a very positive start that allowed me to gain places. On the opening lap I passed two riders, and that motivated me to keep pushing. Also today I managed to maintain a fairly high pace throughout the entire race. The reason for the improvement with our feeling is a change made this morning that gave us confidence. In the second half of the race we had some problems that made us lose speed and power, and towards the end this worsened and we lost some positions. Fortunately I was able to finish the race and keep adding points to my tally. We will investigate what might have been the cause of the issue, so that it does not happen again at Assen.”
Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: DNF – “After just three laps the bike stopped on the straight and I could not continue the race. A first analysis suggests an electrical problem, but now we will investigate to better understand what happened. I’m disappointed, obviously, because despite the pain of the crash yesterday I wanted to take a strong part in the race. Also, in the beginning I felt at ease. I think we could have got a good result, but these things happen. Now we must focus on tests that we will do tomorrow, and the next race.”
Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing: DNF – “I don’t have too much to say now. Maybe just that this is all my fault, I made a mistake so I’m the only one who is responsible for this situation. Right from the start I had a slightly overheated clutch because of the long wait for the starting lights. My start was terrible and I lost two more positions. Then I started to get to the rider in front me and pushed really hard. I was too fast in one corner and the rear of my bike slipped away. Probably too much effort. This time I regret it a lot. But when I fell nothing serious happened.”
Movistar Yamaha Report
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi put in a stunning ride this afternoon to secure second on the podium in the GP Monster Energy de Catalunya.
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo threatened briefly in the early race laps before settling into fourth position, which he held to the line.
The Doctor started his Catalunya attack well, shooting from fifth to third into turn one from the start and then almost immediately into second behind his teammate Lorenzo. With 22 laps to go he made a decisive move for the lead and began a run at the front that was only broken towards the end of the race.
With seven laps remaining he was passed by both Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa in turns one and two, the two riders then almost immediately sitting up and raising hands for a yellow flag. Rossi took advantage of this and passed the two for the lead, holding it for a lap before Marquez passed again on turn two. With four laps remaining Pedrosa also made the move, dropping Rossi to third until the final lap. As the last corners came, Pedrosa made contact with Marquez, running wide and allowing Rossi back through to claim second on the podium, just 0.5 seconds behind Marquez.
Teammate Lorenzo made a strong start from second on the grid, delivering a trademark ‘Por Fuera’ pass round the outside of Pedrosa on turn one for the race lead. With his teammate closing fast behind, it wasn’t long before Rossi was passed, then Marquez followed on turn ten of the same lap. With 19 laps to go Pedrosa also squeezed through, leaving Lorenzo to hold fourth on the tail of the fighting three to the line.
Rossi’s podium scores 20 points. He remains in second place, now on 117 points, 58 behind Marquez.
Lorenzo’s fourth place delivers 13 points, keeping him in fourth position on 78, 34 behind Pedrosa in third.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will now take a short break before heading to the iconic Assen TT in the Netherlands on the 28th June.
Valentino Rossi – 2nd / +0.512 / 25 laps – “I’m so happy because it was a great race, I enjoyed it so much. I started fast and I was able to stay in front for a long part of the race. I’m not satisfied 100% because I thought I could win but in the last laps they were faster than me. I tried the maximum but also Dani overtook me and I lost time. I did a good race; it is another podium so we have to continue like this.”
Jorge Lorenzo – 4th / +4.540 / 25 laps – “I’m a little bit disappointed, we knew that the others were very strong and also Vale had a very good pace. The pace was not so bad because the track was not very hot but unfortunately I couldn’t open the gap I wanted in the first lap. When Vale passed me it was the same and I couldn’t ride like when I am alone. The bike was working well in braking but in the last two corners where we were very strong last year, we weren’t this year. In acceleration I started losing grip and when I followed Dani it was impossible to stay with him, I just had to recover in some corners. It was a pity, if we had less problems in acceleration it was a great opportunity to win. We were strong on braking but unfortunately lost it in the last corners so I couldn’t do more.”
Massimo Meregalli – “The race was a great spectacle and one of the nicest this year to watch, just like the last round in Mugello. It’s good to see so many protagonists fighting at the front. Valentino really showed his experience. He made a good start and then was able to lead the race for quite a few laps. At the end of the race when his tyre life had dropped he really used his experience to the most advantage to snatch second. Jorge made an impressive long run yesterday and so the expectation was pretty high for the race. Unfortunately after a good start he was unable to replicate the pace so did what he could to try and stay with the pack. It seems fourth was the best he could do in these circumstances. Tomorrow we will stay here for the IRTA test and then we will move to Aragon for a private test to prepare for the Assen race. We will analyse the data form Jorge to try understand what went wrong and how we can improve it.”
Bridgestone Report
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Hard (Main), Soft (Alternative)
Weather: Dry. Ambient 22-24°C; Track 33-40°C (Bridgestone measurement)
As dark clouds loomed over Montmeló, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez weathered a storm of challenges from his MotoGP™ rivals to win his seventh race from seven starts in 2014.
The rain that threatened to fall over the Spanish circuit failed to eventuate, allowing the riders to compete at a ferocious pace on slick tyres resulting in today’s Catalan Grand Prix being completed in record time, beating the old mark by over five seconds. The electric pace also created one of the most exciting race finales in recent history as Marquez, his teammate Dani Pedrosa, and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi all battled for victory.
It was Marquez who ultimately prevailed from the three-way fight for the lead. He survived a late attack from Pedrosa on turn ten of the final lap which saw the riders touch, and went on to win the race from Rossi by 0.512 seconds. Pedrosa’s last gasp move on Marquez saw him run wide, but he recovered to claim third place, finishing just over a second behind Rossi. On his way to victory, Marquez set a time of 1’42.182 on the second lap of the race to break the six-year-old race lap record at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Widespread cloud cover and fresh winds brought a cool change, with the peak track temperature recorded today being 40°C; 14°C less than recorded during yesterday’s Free Practice 4 session. Despite the significant change in temperatures, the cooler weather didn’t have a major effect on race tyre choice, as riders still used the slick options they preferred in yesterday’s hotter conditions. All riders except for Stefan Bradl selected the medium compound front slick, with the German rider opting for the hard compound front. For the rear tyre, thirteen of the twenty-four starters selected the medium compound rear slick, with the remaining eleven riders selecting the soft compound rear slick. No riders chose to use the hard compound rear slick for the Catalan Grand Prix. Tyre performance at what is the one of the most gruelling events on the calendar for tyres was exceptional, with the top four finishers completing the race under the existing overall race time record.
Marquez moves to 175 championship points and extends his lead over second-placed Rossi to fifty-eight points. Pedrosa remains in third place on the championship table, and just five points behind Rossi in the standings.
Shinichi Yamashita – General Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department – “What an excellent race! Congratulations to Marc and Repsol Honda on their seventh victory this year, not to mention Honda’s one-hundredth win in the modern MotoGP era. Well done also to Valentino and Dani for making the podium and pushing Marc all the way to the chequered flag. We had much cooler conditions today but this didn’t change the riders’ minds on which tyre combination to use for the race. This circuit has quite a low grip level so I am very pleased with how our tyres performed in the race, with a new Circuit Record Lap being set by Marquez and the top four riders able to complete the race quicker than the existing overall race time record. I am proud that Bridgestone was involved in such a fantastic race here in Catalunya, but now our attention turns to this week’s MotoGP tests at Montmeló and Aragon, as we continue to test new tyre developments in our quest to give riders even higher levels of safety and performance.”
