Repsol Honda RC213V rider Marc Marquez fought back after almost running off the track to take his sixth win of the year at Aragon, stretching his title lead to almost 40 points with four races remaining. It was Honda’s eighth win this year, and the RC213V’s third in a row at the scenic Motorland Aragon circuit in the Spanish hinterland.

The team’s joy was tempered by misfortune to second Repsol Honda RC213V rider Dani Pedrosa, who crashed out heavily in a freak incident on the sixth of 23 laps. He had taken second place from pole starter Marquez, and was mounting a strong challenge on early leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) at the time.

Split seconds before Marquez ran wide, he clipped the rear of Pedrosa’s machine, and the team discovered that one of the electronic sensors of the traction-control system had been damaged, causing the system to become inoperative. This triggered the crash, which happened a few yards further on as Pedrosa opened the throttle. The rear wheel spun, the bike slewed sideways, and the Spaniard – who turned 28 on race day – was tossed over the high side.

Lorenzo had led away with yet another of his trade-mark lightning starts, and led by a second after the first lap, with Marquez second and Pedrosa third. The Honda pair gradually closed the gap over the next four laps; then on the fifth Pedrosa pounced on his team-mate, and was soon on the Yamaha’s back wheel and challenging strongly.

It seemed only a matter of time before he took the lead, but he hadn’t completed another lap when instead he was sent flying.

While Pedrosa was taken to the medical centre for checks (he escaped serious injury), Marquez regrouped and set about closing a gap of almost two seconds on Lorenzo. It took him nine laps to catch up and get ahead with a clean but forceful pass. Lorenzo stayed close until the closing stages, but was powerless to prevent Marquez taking the win by better than one second.

A crowd of 61,300 enjoying warm but overcast conditions were rewarded with exciting racing down the field, with a four-bike battle for the last rostrum place. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) hung on to the spot under race-long pressure from Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V), Alvaro Bautista (FUN&GO Gresini Honda RC213V) and Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha).

It came to a climax in the last six laps. First Bautista got ahead of Rossi, then Bradl joined the action, with Crutchlow a close spectator. The trio changed places again with two laps to go, Rossi regaining the upper hand to lead Bautista over the line by less than a second. The Spaniard had his hands full with Bradl, less than two tenths behind. Crutchlow was just over half a second away. Less than two seconds covered the quartet.

Bautista has a special role with Honda, race-developing Showa suspension and Nissin brakes, the only rider to use the Japanese components made by companies associated with Honda

His team-mate Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) finished 18th, in the middle of a three-rider battle. The Australian, in his first grand prix season, rides a CBR1000RR-powered machine in the CRT category.

Marquez has now amassed a total of 278 points, with Lorenzo second on 239, and Pedrosa dropped to third on 219.

The next race is the Malaysian GP in two weeks’ time, followed week by week by two more long-distance races, in Australia and Japan, before the season finale in Valencia.



Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 1st

“Today was a very gruelling race, because I had to make two comebacks; the first was to catch Jorge after he broke free at the start, then I needed to make another after Dani passed me and I wanted to overtake him after two laps. I felt comfortable but I went a little wide under braking, lifted the bike up and made light contact with him. I’m not sure he even noticed it, but it was a bit of bad luck because the team told me I caused his traction control cable to snap and I’m sorry for that – it’s something very unusual to see. The important thing is that Dani is OK. I was eventually able to overtake Jorge and take the victory, which is important in terms of both the 25 points and for my morale.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd

“Fortunately I’m fine physically. I took a heavy knock to my hip and my groin area, but I was able to escape relatively unhurt from what was a big crash. Marc went in too wide on the corner entry, clipped me from the outside and I went flying when I got on the gas. My mechanics told me later that the traction control cable had been cut by the contact.”

Alvaro Bautista, GO&FUN Honda Gresini, 4th

“It was a great race and I had a lot of fun fighting with Crutchlow, Bradl and Rossi. It’s just a shame that I missed out on the podium again but I am happy because I fought for it until the end. Unfortunately I ended up getting into a fight with Bradl on the final lap and lost touch with Valentino but I have no complaints and we have to be happy with a result like this at a circuit where we have had so many difficulties in the past. Thanks to all the guys for the incredible job they are doing. It is nice that we were back to our best today, proving that Misano was not our fault.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th

“Probably it was an exciting race to watch and it was fun also for me. Overall we had a good weekend and a good race although I lost the last-lap battle with Rossi and Bautista, but I am happy anyway. Of course I was dreaming about the podium, as we were fast and consistent over the three days, but Alvaro was very strong in the last lap. After Silverstone and Brno tough weekends, our performance is getting stronger and stronger and I gained more confidence on the bike. I only need some more experience to manage the last laps and the drop of the tyres, but we took the right direction.”

Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini, 18th

“I am not really happy because I thought the race would be different, but after a good start I made a mistake and lost focus. It’s a shame, but we have to stay positive because we have some important races coming up, including my home Grand Prix, and I am determined to finish the season off in a positive way.”

Event results - Round 14 - Race 1

1 Marc Marquez 42'03.459 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 1.356 ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Valentino Rossi 12.927 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Alvaro Bautista 13.787 ESP HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
5 Stefan Bradl 13.973 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Cal Crutchlow 14.662 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Bradley Smith 31.220 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Andrea Dovizioso 40.671 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Nicky Hayden 53.413 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Andrea Iannone 55.067 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
11 Aleix Espargaro 58.001 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Yonny Hernandez 1'05.513 COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
13 Randy De Puniet 1'06.589 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'08.674 JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
15 Claudio Corti 1'09.130 ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
16 Colin Edwards 1'12.041 USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
17 Luca Scassa 1'45.152 ITA ART Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Bryan Staring 1'45.228 AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
19 Lukas Pesek 1'45.583 CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
20 Hector Barbera DNF ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
21 Dani Pedrosa DNF ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
22 Damian Cudlin DNF AUS ART Paul Bird Motorsport
23 Danilo Petrucci DNF ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
24 Michael Laverty DNF WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport

Championship standings

1 Marc Marquez 278 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 239 pts ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Dani Pedrosa 219 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Valentino Rossi 185 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Cal Crutchlow 156 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Stefan Bradl 135 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Alvaro Bautista 125 pts ESP HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Andrea Dovizioso 112 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Nicky Hayden 102 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Bradley Smith 80 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Aleix Espargaro 76 pts ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Michele Pirro 50 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Andrea Iannone 47 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Colin Edwards 31 pts USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
15 Hector Barbera 27 pts ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Randy De Puniet 23 pts FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
17 Danilo Petrucci 23 pts ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
18 Yonny Hernandez 11 pts COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
19 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Pramac Racing
20 Hiroshi Aoyama 8 pts JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
21 Claudio Corti 8 pts ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
22 Karel Abraham 5 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
23 Alex de Angelis 5 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
24 Michael Laverty 3 pts WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
25 Bryan Staring 2 pts AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
26 Javier del Amor 1 pts ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
27 Martin Bauer 0 pts AUT S&B SUTER Remus Racing Team
28 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
29 Luca Scassa 0 pts ITA ART Cardion AB Motoracing
30 Ivan Silva 0 pts ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
31 Blake Young 0 pts USA APRILIA Attack Performance

.