Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi pays tribute to Diego Maradona lifting the winner’s trophy wearing the Argentine legend’s jersey on the Grand Prix of Argentina podium on Sunday. (Below) Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez (left) poses for a selfie with a fan after race at Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, in Santiago del Estero. (Reuters / AFP)

 

Valentino Rossi called Marc Marquez an “all-in” kind of rider after the Italian raced to his 84th MotoGP victory as the defending champion crashed out of the race in Argentina on Sunday.
The seven-time MotoGP champion rose from eighth on the grid to second with 2 laps to go. After an exchange of positions with Repsol Honda’s Marquez, Rossi moved ahead and the Spaniard clipped the back of Yamaha #46 and crashed out.
Rossi finished almost five seconds ahead of second-placed Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati and CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow.
Rossi later discussed the incident with Marquez at the press conference: “It was a shame that he crashed, but for me he made a mistake because Marc is a rider who will always go all-in. When I braked he touched me once, then again, and then he crashed. It was a shame as it could have been a good battle to the end.”
Choice of tyres played a huge part in Sunday’s race. Right before the riders set off on their sighting lap, Marquez, along with Crutchlow, decided to switch to the hard compound rear tyre.
This was in contrast to the Movistar Yamaha’s of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo who went with the extra hard option, a decision that would prove to be crucial later on in the race.
It was Aleix Espargaro who led the pack into turn one on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR, but it didn’t take long for Marquez to make his move for the lead, passing his compatriot almost immediately and taking advantage of the clear track in front of him to lead by 0.8s at the end of the first lap.
Marquez used the extra grip afforded to him by his hard tyre early on in the race to extend his lead to over 4 seconds at the front, all the while though Rossi was gradually making his way through the field from 8th on the grid. ‘The Doctor’ moved into second at the expense of Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati Team GP15 with 15 laps to go. He then set about hunting down Marquez as the Spaniard’s tyre performance started to fall away, and it suddenly became apparent he would be able to catch the Honda before the end of the race, which sent the fans into a frenzy.
It was like watching a hunter stalk his prey as Rossi made huge in-roads into Marquez’s lead, finally catching him with just 2 laps to go. Marquez was not going to let the Italian pass him without a fight though, and in the ensuing battle the riders touched a couple of times, before Marquez clipped the back of Rossi’s bike and crashed out of the race. Marquez showed his frustration at the side of the track but Race Direction ruled it as a ‘racing incident’ and took no further action.
This left Rossi on his own to take the victory by over five seconds, and he admitted afterwards that the key to his success was not caring about Marquez’s tyre choice, and just focusing on his own.
“I am sorry for the incident with Marc and I hope he is ok, but it was a great race and I am very happy to have won. I had good pace and although Marc was far ahead during the race, I saw he selected the hard rear tyre and so I had to concentrate and keep riding at one hundred percent to catch him.”
Marquez confirmed afterwards that he was unhurt following the crash, and that he chose the hard tyre as it was the only way he felt he could beat Rossi: “It’s a shame what happened, because we were having a good race. It was interesting, because our tyre choice was different from Valentino’s as I felt we were not as competitive with the harder compound. The strategy was working out well for us, it’s just a pity about the last two laps. When I saw that he was closing in on me, I decided to conserve the tyres a little. On the final laps I went back to riding in the low 1’39s to check that the tyres were still in good shape, and knew that we would be fighting to the end.”
Talking about the clash with the Italian he said: “When he passed me, well…you can see what happened in the video. I love Valentino and it is always difficult to beat him, he is my hero and I always learn something when I ride against him.”
Dovizioso took advantage of Marquez’s crash to claim 2nd, five seconds behind Rossi, and now trails him by six points in the Championship standings.
CWM LCR Honda’s Crutchlow left it until the very last corner to pass Andrea Iannone to claim the final podium place, managing to hold off the Ducati Team GP15 on the run to the line to take 3rd and finish as the leading satellite rider.
Rossi’s teammate Lorenzo had no answer to the pace of the guys at the front, finishing in a lonely 5th position.
Nine seconds further back was the Satellite Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 of Bradley Smith, while Aleix Espargaro ended the race in 7th, ahead of his brother Pol on the second Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding and the second Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR of Maverick Vinales completed the top ten.
Earlier, Yonny Hernandez had a spectacular mechanical failure and had to retire from the race after his Pramac Racing Ducati caught fire on track. (MotoGP.com)