Honda MotoGP rider Marc Marquez of Spain poses with his crew near his motorcycle after winning the Indianapolis GP in Indianapolis yesterday. (Reuters)
Agencies/Indianapolis
Twice defending world champion Marc Marquez maintained his unbeaten record in the United States with a decisive victory at the Indianapolis MotoGP yesterday.
Marquez bided his time in second place behind Jorge Lorenzo for most of the 27-lap race before making a decisive pass of his fellow Spaniard at the end of the home straight with three laps left.
The Repsol Honda rider was never seriously challenged after that as he crossed the line in 41:55.371, 0.688 seconds ahead of Yamaha rider Lorenzo at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
World championship leader Valentino Rossi of Italy was nearly six seconds back in third place on his Yamaha, just ahead of Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).
Marquez has never been beaten in motorcycling on three different American tracks and has won for the past five years in Indianapolis in Moto2GP and MotoGP.
Rins takes sensational Moto2 victory
Paginas Amarillas HP40’s rookie Alex Rins took his first Moto2™ race win ahead of Ajo Motorsports Johann Zarco (+0.482s) and Franco Morbidelli (+0.888s) on the Italtrans Racing Kalex in what was one of the most exciting races of the season.
The race was declared wet but with the track drying, the majority of riders decided to start on slicks and it was a fascinating first few laps as they tried to adjust to the conditions. Once things had settled down there was an incredible battle at the front between Rins, Rabat, Zarco and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten).
Each rider took turns at the front of the field as fans were treated to a spectacular display of aggressive overtaking in what was more reminiscent of a Moto3™ race. It would take until the penultimate lap for Rins to secure the win after Zarco had ran wide, taking Aegerter with him, to give the Spaniard some breathing space at the front.
Rins eventually crossed the line almost half a second ahead of championship leader Zarco to take his 9th career GP victory (8xMoto3™, 1xMoto2™), with Morbidelli coming on strong towards the end of the race and taking advantage of Aegerter running wide to steal third and secure his first career Moto2™ podium.
Aegerter, fresh from his podium at the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, was battling at the front for long parts of the race before missing out on the podium by 0.406s as he had to settle for fourth. Rabat (+2.963) took a battling fifth after a duel with Morbidelli that must have brought back memories of their last corner crash at the German GP last time out.
Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) was sixth, with AGR Teams Axel Pons recovering from an earlier crash in Warm Up to take seventh. Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Alex Marquez (Paginas Amarillas HP40) completed the top ten.
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes crashed out while in 6th at Turn 15 with just 5 laps to go, after the British rider had fought his way back into contention for the podium. Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) was also in contention for a top 6 finish when he crashed out on the final lap, while Mika Kallio, who had started from the front row, also went down after contact with Lowes on lap 11.
There were also DNF’s for Tech 3’s debutant Xavi Vierge, Randy Krummenacher, Ratthapark Wilairot, Sandro Cortese and Julian Simon who had actually led the race at the start.
All this means that Zarco (199pts) has extended his lead in the Moto2™ World to 71 points, with Rins (128pts) leapfrogging Rabat (125pts) into second.
RESULTS
MOTOGP
1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 41:55.371
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 41:56.059
3.Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 42:01.337
4.Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 42:01.518
5.Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 42:16.899
6. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 42:17.122
7. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 42:25.749
8. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 42:26.978
9. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 42:28.192
10. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 42:29.888
11. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 42:34.381
12. Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati 42:37.186
13. Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 42:45.580
14. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 42:55.836
15. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 42:59.518
STANDINGS
1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 195
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 186
3. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 139
4. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 129
5. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 97
6. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 94
7. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 80
8. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 74
9. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 73
10. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 62
11. Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 57
12. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 46
13. Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati 36
14. Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 33
15. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 20
MOTO2
1. Alex Rins (Spain) Kalex 41:18.866
2. Johann Zarco (France) Kalex 41:19.348
3. Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex 41:19.754
4. Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Kalex 41:20.585
5.Tito Rabat (Spain) Kalex 41:21.829
6. Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Kalex 41:22.344
7. Axel Pons (Spain) Kalex 41:23.930
8. Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex 41:26.428
9. Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 41:28.182
10. Alex Marquez (Spain) Kalex 41:28.667
11. Azlan Shah (Malaysia) Kalex 41:28.765
12. Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex 41:28.974
13. Anthony West (Australia) Speed up 41:35.972
14. Marcel Schroetter (Germany) Tech 3 41:44.053
15. Robin Mulhauser (Switzerland) Kalex 41:51.453