Marquez completes a perfect weekend at Indy

Marc Marquez dominated

Marc Marquez has completed a dominant weekend by winning the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, leading home Dani Pedrosa in the third Repsol Honda Team one-two finish of the season. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo completed the podium as Valentino Rossi beat Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista to fourth.

Marquez’s victory ensures that the Spaniard has topped every session he has taken part in this weekend – something not done since Casey Stoner dominated the Australian Grand Prix event of last year. The victory marks Marquez’s third consecutive premier class race win and confirms a clean sweep of American successes this season, having also triumphed at Texas and Laguna Seca.

The band was High Octane, but only about 40 people showed up to watch

From pole position, another poor start from the 20-year-old rookie saw Marquez fall behind both Lorenzo and teammate Pedrosa. He would overtake the pair on Laps 9 and 13, respectively, and – as his rivals continued to feel the effects of injured collarbones – would cross the finish line almost three and a half seconds ahead.

Pedrosa looked to be finishing the 27-lap race in third position, but sprang a surprise by slipstreaming ahead of Lorenzo at the start of the penultimate lap. For both Pedrosa and Lorenzo, this marked their first podium finishes since the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona some two months ago. In fourth place, Lorenzo’s teammate Rossi rose from ninth on the grid and only on the final tour got the better of Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Crutchlow and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Bautista, who had enjoyed a race-long battle. Stefan Bradl finished seventh for LCR Honda MotoGP.

From left, Pedrosa, Marquez and Lorenzo

Rounding out the top ten were Crutchlow’s teammate Bradley Smith and Ducati Team pairing Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso; the English debutant (who had run as high as fourth on Lap 1, thanks to a superb start) leapfrogged both of the red bikes as Hayden pushed Dovizioso wide at the final corner. This was a near repeat of a final-corner incident at Assen from which Smith also benefitted.

Four riders failed to finish the race. Attack Performance Racing wildcard Blake Young crashed on the opening lap, where problems hit Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar), Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) and Yonny Hernandez (PBM). Unable to race were both Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies, whose comeback was ruined when he separated his left shoulder on Friday, and Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham who heavily bruised a foot and shoulder, also on Day 1.

Marc Marquez
“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 tires 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
"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"

Jorge Lorenzo 3rd
“I made a very good start and I had half a second advantage in the beginning of the race. I had a lot of hope because I knew I had a good pace but suddenly in the middle of the race Marc started to go faster and faster so it was impossible to win. I’m disappointed to not finish second, because in normal conditions without the drop in rear tyre this would have been possible. I’m happy to be back on the podium at a track that’s not normally a good one for us. I don’t feel perfect, I feel more tired than normal because I haven’t trained so much in the last two months because of the injuries. I felt tired at the end of the race and had some pain in the braking areas but I feel much better and in Brno and Silverstone I will be ok. I think from this moment we can only be better and better."

Valentino Rossi 4th
“At the end the race was not so bad, especially compared with yesterday and especially the second half. I could ride the bike in a good way and I could enjoy it. I did a very good lap time in the second half and had great battles with Bradl and Bautista, but especially with Cal on the last lap, that was very funny. Fourth place here is good considering this track is one of the worst for me and considering I started from ninth I am quite happy. We still have to work and understand why in the first laps I can’t ride the bike and use the extra grip of the tyre. In the second part when the tyre slides I can enter the corner faster, I can go faster and I can make good lap times so we have to improve because the first three riders are very strong."

Race Result – Round 10

Pos Rider Time Nat Bike Team
1 Marc Marquez 44'52.463 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa +3.495 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo +5.704 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Valentino Rossi +19.895 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Cal Crutchlow +19.955 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Alvaro Bautista +20.061 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
7 Stefan Bradl +24.842 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
8 Bradley Smith +40.690 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Nicky Hayden +40.701 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Andrea Dovizioso +40.823 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Andrea Iannone +59.668 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
12 Aleix Espargaro +1'06.650 SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
13 Colin Edwards +1'09.462 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
14 Claudio Corti +1'15.207 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
15 Hiroshi Aoyama +1'20.159 JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Hector Barbera +1'25.879 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
17 Danilo Petrucci +1'29.616 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
18 Michael Laverty +1'36.388 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
19 Bryan Staring +1 lap AUS FTR-HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
20 Yonny Hernandez DNF COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Lukas Pesek DNF CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
22 Randy De Puniet DNF FRA SUZUKI Suzuki Test Team
23 Blake Young DNF USA APR CRT Attack Performance

Championship standings

Pos Rider Points Nat Bike Team
1 Marc Marquez 188 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 167 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 153 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Valentino Rossi 130 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Cal Crutchlow 127 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Stefan Bradl 93 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Andrea Dovizioso 87 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Alvaro Bautista 81 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
9 Nicky Hayden 72 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Bradley Smith 59 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Aleix Espargaro 56 pts SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Michele Pirro 36 pts ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
13 Andrea Iannone 29 pts ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
14 Hector Barbera 24 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
15 Colin Edwards 20 pts USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
16 Randy De Puniet 19 pts FRA SUZUKI Suzuki Test Team
17 Danilo Petrucci 18 pts ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
18 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
19 Claudio Corti 7 pts ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
20 Yonny Hernandez 7 pts COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Alex De Angelis 5 pts RSM DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
22 Karel Abraham 5 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
23 Michael Laverty 3 pts GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
24 Bryan Staring 2 pts AUS FTR-HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
25 Hiroshi Aoyama 2 pts JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
26 Javier Del Amor 1 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
27 Ivan Silva 0 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
28 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
29 Blake Young 0 pts USA APR CRT Attack Performance