Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) overcame pain and weakness from a recent injury to claim second place in today’s Spanish Grand Prix, equalling his qualifying position and claiming an excellent 20 points in difficult circumstances.

Marquez held the position throughout the race, withstanding increasing discomfort and fending off a challenge from title leader Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) in the later stages of the 27-lap race at the iconic Jerez circuit.

The 22-year-old Spaniard's second MotoGP title defence remains on course despite a tough start to the season, compounded when he broke his left-hand little finger in a motocross training accident just eight days before today’s race.

Marquez rode with a modified handlebar and a special glove to protect the injured hand, which was screwed and plated directly after the crash. For the first time in the weekend he used painkillers for today’s race. Even so, it was a struggle to finish the 27 laps, during which the process of throwing much of his weight onto his healthy right arm caused extra difficulties in addition to the injury itself.

Second place in his first home race of the year combines with a pole-to-chequer victory at the second round in Texas, plus fifth in round one at Qatar, keeping him well in touch with a third straight championship win, with 14 races remaining.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) was absent for a third race after requiring surgery to address arm-pump issues after round one, and his place in the factory Honda team was again taken by HRC factory tester Hiro Aoyama, who crashed out of the race after escaping from a frantic mid-pack battle.

The second Honda finisher was again Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V), who fought through in the early laps for a strong fourth place, two weeks after claiming his first Honda podium in Argentina. The former World 600 Supersport rider is still adapting to the powerful RC213V, after joining Honda this season; and furthermore was fighting a heavy cold.

A second British rider campaigns the other satellite Factory option Honda, and Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) was in the points again, finishing 13th in the thick of a raging multi-bike battle for 11th. Redding, Moto2 runner up in 2013, was the top scorer last year on Honda’s Open machine.

Four riders race the upgraded 2015 version of that machine, and 2006 Honda World Champion Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) was the best finisher today, claiming 17th place after catching and passing new team-mate Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS), who was 18th.

Class rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS), who has made an unprecedented jump straight from Moto3 to the premier class, finished 20th, disappointed after scoring points in the last two rounds, but troubled with grip issues.

Although temperatures were slightly lower than in practice and qualifying in slightly overcast conditions, the track’s notoriously low traction in the heat was still a major factor.

Czech law graduate Karel Abraham (AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS) joined Aoyama on the crash list, escaping without injury.

Second place moved Marquez to fourth overall, and closed the gap to title leader Rossi to 26 points.







Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team: 2nd

“This is a track where we’ve always struggled a little because of my riding style – and this year also because of my injury, but today we achieved what we set out to do. On the opening laps I followed Jorge, but by lap five I could tell that although my finger was not a problem, I was unconsciously working more with my right arm and it began to stiffen up. From then on, I decided to just try and finish the race strong. Then I saw that Valentino was closing in on me and I thought: ‘It’s going to be Argentina all over again.’ But I gathered strength and this time I was able to maintain the gap between us. We leave Jerez a little closer to the World Championship leader, but Jorge has extended his advantage.”

Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR: 4th

“Fourth was the best we could do today with my physical condition. I was happy enough to be honest, we had a good race and I pushed when I needed to push. In all honesty I could have been five seconds overall quicker on the race distance, I just didn’t need to be. I kept the gap to Pol Espargaro behind and I think it was just too difficult to chase Valentino. But the team did a great job to finish in fourth behind the three factory riders. The distance from the winner is a little strange, but we know why because of my condition, which also affected my feeling with the bike.”

Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS: 13th

“That was another difficult race and I didn’t have the pace again. The bike was handling better on the front but I kept losing out on the exit. We need to try and work something out because I need to be finishing higher up. Maybe it is my riding style or a bit in the bike, but my main struggle is on corner exit. We’ve now got a one-day test and we need to try and find some more rear grip and something to help me get the bike turning so we can we be more competitive in Le Mans.”

Nicky Hayden, Aspar Team: 17th

“Today I started badly, and couldn’t find a good early pace. It was a pity: in the second half I was much faster. I began to feel more comfortable to increase and maintain a decent pace, and I gained a couple of places. But I’m not satisfied because I like Jerez and expected to enjoy riding here and get a better result. Fortunately we have a test scheduled for tomorrow where we will try to improve things. We are evolving our electronics gradually, so I hope we can become more competitive.”

Eugene Laverty, Aspar Team: 18th

“Yesterday afternoon we suffered from the lack of traction, so this morning we made some changes and greatly improved the set-up. I had more grip and could be more consistent. I was able to start well, but the different geometry of the bike changed the weight distribution, and whenever I accelerated it stressed my forearms. I could control the pain, but when the bike started to slide towards the end it was almost impossible to ride. We found some traction. Now we need to improve the balance.”

Jack Miller, CWM LCR: 20th

“It wasn’t a great race at all. We tried really hard, but towards the middle of the race I ran wide and lost the group. I pushed really hard to try and catch them up, but it was not enough. I had too many bad moments and decided if I kept on pushing like that I would end up crashing. So we finished the race, but not in the position I wanted. I hope in the tests on Monday we can find something positive for the races ahead.”

Karel Abraham, AB Motoracing: DNF

“Another bad day for me. Nothing is going right for me this year, and I am getting quite desperate to score some points. Instead I crashed, and we are investigating to try to find out why. I am sure my luck will change soon.”

Hiro Aoyama, Repsol Honda Team, DNF

“We expected it to be much hotter but unfortunately the conditions changed. I still stand by my choice of hard tyre in the race, at the beginning we were struggling with the grip but from mid-race I began to feel better. We knew the hard tyre would be strong towards the end, and allow me to battle with the other riders, but unfortunately before I could capitalise from this I made a mistake and crashed. It was a hard race and ending like this is really disappointing. I’d like to thank all the team, they helped me a lot and it was a great experience.”


Event results - Round 4  

1 Jorge Lorenzo 44'57.246 ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 
2 Marc Marquez 5.576 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Valentino Rossi 11.586 ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
4 Cal Crutchlow 22.727 GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
5 Pol Espargaro 26.620 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Andrea Iannone 27.021 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Aleix Espargaro 35.445 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
8 Bradley Smith 36.296 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Andrea Dovizioso 41.933 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Yonny Hernandez 51.072 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
11 Maverick Vinales 51.674 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
12 Danilo Petrucci 52.421 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Scott Redding 53.052 GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
14 Hector Barbera 53.200 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
15 Alvaro Bautista 57.344 ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
16 Stefan Bradl 59.018 GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
17 Nicky Hayden 1'01.506 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
18 Eugene Laverty 1'03.163 HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
19 Marco Melandri 1'06.895 APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
20 Jack Miller 1'14.182 AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
21 Alex de Angelis 1'26.832 ART Octo IodaRacing Team
22 Mike De Meglio 1 Lap FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
23 Hiroshi Aoyama DNF JPN HONDA Repsol Honda Team
24 Loris Baz DNF FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
25 Karel Abraham DNF CZE HONDA AB Motoracing

Championship standings  


1 Valentino Rossi 82 pts ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
2 Andrea Dovizioso 67 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team 
3 Jorge Lorenzo 62 pts ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
4 Marc Marquez 56 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Andrea Iannone 50 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Cal Crutchlow 47 pts GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
7 Bradley Smith 36 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Aleix Espargaro 31 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
9 Pol Espargaro 26 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10 Maverick Vinales 20 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
11 Danilo Petrucci 19 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Scott Redding 13 pts GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
13 Yonny Hernandez 12 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Dani Pedrosa 10 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
15 Hector Barbera 10 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
16 Jack Miller 6 pts AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
17 Hiroshi Aoyama 5 pts JPN HONDA Repsol Honda Team
18 Nicky Hayden 3 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
19 Alvaro Bautista 2 pts ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
20 Loris Baz 2 pts FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
21 Stefan Bradl 1 pts GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
22 Alex de Angelis 0 pts ART Octo IodaRacing Team
23 Mike De Meglio 0 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
24 Marco Melandri 0 pts APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
25 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE HONDA AB Motoracing
26 Eugene Laverty 0 pts HONDA Drive M7 Aspar