Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) won a stupendous seventh victory from seven races, at the end of an unforgettable battle with team-mate
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) that was only settled in the final few corners. It was Marquez’s 13th premier-class victory (from just 25 starts!) which also made Honda the first manufacturer to achieve 100 wins in MotoGP, the four-stroke category introduced in 2002.

Once again the 21-year-old Spaniard proved he is the master of every situation, willing to fight to the bitter end of a race, however great his
World Championship points advantage might be.

After seven of the year’s 18 races he now leads the title chase with a perfect 175 points, 58 points ahead of today’s runner-up finisher Rossi.

Pedrosa holds third place overall after finishing a close third today.

The race was greeted by the paddock as one of the greatest in recent memory, with four riders in with a chance of victory for much of the 25 laps.

In the closing stages the fight came down to three men: Marquez, Rossi and pole-starter Pedrosa, while Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) slipped back to finish a lonely fourth.

Rossi did most of the leading but it was always obvious that Marquez was simply biding his time, waiting for the right moment to thrust his RC213V into the lead. He looked like he might do it at Turn One at the start of lap 14 but he ran so close to Rossi that he had to take avoiding action and run wide, dropping himself to third place behind his team-mate.

In typical Marquez style, he counter-attacked Pedrosa immediately, diving past a few corners later and then grabbing the lead from Rossi a few laps later at Turn One. Then followed a confusing moment: Marquez saw a yellow warning flag at Turn Three and slowed, as did Pedrosa right behind him. By the time they’d got to the next corner Rossi had charged back into the lead but he only stayed there for a lap before Marquez was back in front.

Rossi was still not done, however, and snuck inside Marquez with four laps to go, only to be immediately relegated to second by the World Champion, who never waits a moment longer than necessary to counter attack. Then Pedrosa found a way past Rossi and the scene was set for a Repsol Honda showdown.

On the last lap Pedrosa took the lead at Turn One, Marquez was back in front two corners later, then Pedrosa retook first place at the very next
corner, only to run fractionally wide, allowing Marquez to squeeze back ahead.

As they rode through the final section of the last lap Pedrosa was looking for a way past, his front tyre snagging the rear of Marquez’s machine which sent him wobbling off the racing line, allowing Rossi to reclaim second place. And that’s how one of the greatest races of the last decade or two finished: Marquez first, Rossi second, 0.5 seconds down and Pedrosa third, a further 1.3 seconds back.

Marquez’s latest success completed a Spanish monopoly of today’s racing and also made some more history, along with his younger brother Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) who won the earlier Moto3 race, making them the first fraternal winners at a Grand Prix in history. And all this on the weekend that motorcycling’s World Championships celebrated their 65th birthday. The first World Championship event was staged on the Isle of Man on 13 June 1949.

In among all the drama and history, Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) had a sterling ride to fifth.

The German, badly battered by two huge crashes on race day at Mugello, ran with the lead group for the first quarter of the race, until he had a major moment at Turn Ten. From there he raced alone for his best result since April’s Argentine GP.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) was an early retirement from the race, withdrawing with a suspected electrical glitch.

Rookie Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R) had another brilliant ride to cross the line as top RCV1000R rider in 12th, just ahead of the similarly mounted Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) who is still recovering from post Mugello surgery on a persistent right-wrist injury. Redding, however, was later relegated one position for allegedly cutting Turn One during the race, thus promoting Hayden to 12th.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) took the final point in 15th place after a long duel with Michele Pirro (Ducati). Karel Abraham
(Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) was the first man to exit the race, sliding off after two laps.

The race action continues in two weeks with the Dutch round of the series at Assen, the only venue that has remained on the calendar since 1949.


Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: race winner

“I am delighted with this win because this is a track which I have always found difficult. You could see how tough it was for me this weekend: I missed out on pole for the first time this season and had my first crash of the year. The race was very hard with a battle against Dani, Jorge and Valentino. I think that the last few corners were especially spectacular, with the moves by Valentino and Dani. I am very happy about taking another 25 points and also to win on the same day as my brother at home in front of all our fans! It’s something very special.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd

“It was a very good, hard-fought race because we had four riders up at the front for most of the race. There was a lot of overtaking and it was very intense, because we were going so fast. Overall I am very satisfied, even though the end result was not the best. We fought hard and I felt much better physically. I’ll take the positives from this race: I got my wish of being up at the front, both in practice and in the early laps of the race, and I ended the race fighting with Marc for the victory!”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th

“We are quite happy because I am the best satellite rider just behind the factory teams. First of all I want to thank my team because after the difficult weekend in Mugello we had a great weekend making a good job with the bike setting and the tyre choice. Today I was the only rider on the hard front tyre and I felt comfortable with that. But it’s tough for me to keep the pace of the top riders because it seems that they always have something more. Fifth place is the maximum we could do and it’s a positive result but, as a MotoGP rider, you always race for a podium finish and today I wanted to go for that but as I said it’s very difficult to beat the factory riders.”

Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 12th

“I didn’t start too well today and it took me a few laps to get on the pace. It is not easy to start from 16th position. However, as the laps went by I saw that the bike was working very well, so I pushed ahead. I had a lot of confidence in the front end, and that allowed me to push hard. On the other hand, I knew that with the heat, the rear performance would decrease at the end. Fortunately I managed to keep my pace up and gain some places. After how the weekend went, it isn’t a spectacular result but gives us points after two unlucky races. At Assen we hope to continue the positive work we did today and get plenty more points.”

Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 13th

“I’m happy with my race, although early on I touched with Crutchlow, losing one second and this enabled Hayden to get closer to me. In the end, regardless of the penalty, we still managed to be the best Open Honda, hitting the target we set ourselves. I’m also happy because I did well on this track which is certainly not one of my favourites. We chose to use the soft tyre, which was a risk and in end proved to be a wrong choice. Regarding the penalty, I had a problem in Turn One, so rather than risk falling I preferred to go slightly right; doing so I gained a little time, but in the next sector of the track I slowed down. Nevertheless, they added a time penalty to my race time, even though I had slowed down. It is difficult to accept because if I had not slowed down, the penalty would have maintained my position. I’m a little disappointed, but I cannot do anything about it.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 15th

“Yesterday we did not qualify well and today we had to start from 20th position. I made a very positive start that allowed me to gain places. On the opening lap I passed two riders, and that motivated me to keep pushing. Also today I managed to maintain a fairly high pace throughout the entire race. The reason for the improvement with our feeling is a change made this morning that gave us confidence. In the second half of the race we had some problems that made us lose speed and power, and towards the end this worsened and we lost some positions. Fortunately I was able to finish the race and keep adding points to my tally. We will investigate what might have been the cause of the issue, so that it does not happen again at Assen.”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: DNF

“After just three laps the bike stopped on the straight and I could not continue the race. A first analysis suggests an electrical problem, but now we will investigate to better understand what happened. I’m disappointed, obviously, because despite the pain of the crash yesterday I wanted to take a strong part in the race. Also, in the beginning I felt at ease. I think we could have got a good result, but these things happen. Now we must focus on tests that we will do tomorrow, and the next race.”

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing: DNF

“I don’t have too much to say now. Maybe just that this is all my fault, I made a mistake so I’m the only one who is responsible for this situation. Right from the start I had a slightly overheated clutch because of the long wait for the starting lights. My start was terrible and I llost two more positions. Then I started to get to the rider in front me and pushed really hard. I was too fast in one corner and the rear of my bike slipped away. Probably too much effort. This time I regret it a lot. But when I fell nothing serious happened.”

Event results - Round 7

1 Marc Marquez 42'56.914 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Valentino Rossi 0.512 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Dani Pedrosa 1.834 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Jorge Lorenzo 4.540 ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Stefan Bradl 11.148 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Aleix Espargaro 14.213 ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
7 Pol Espargaro 16.127 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Andrea Dovizioso 16.175 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Andrea Iannone 18.040 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
10 Bradley Smith 24.781 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Yonny Hernandez 37.153 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Scott Redding 42.921 GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
13 Nicky Hayden 43.299 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
14 Michele Pirro 55.157 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
15 Hiroshi Aoyama 59.191 JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
16 Broc Parkes 1'00.906 AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Michael Laverty 1'01.284 WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
18 Colin Edwards 1'06.121 USA FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
19 Hector Barbera 1'25.195 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
20 Michel Fabrizio 1'40.665 ITA ART IodaRacing Project
21 Mike De Meglio DNF FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
22 Cal Crutchlow DNF GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
23 Alvaro Bautista DNF ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
24 Karel Abraham DNF CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing

Championship standings

1 Marc Marquez 175 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Valentino Rossi 117 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Dani Pedrosa 112 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Jorge Lorenzo 78 pts ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Andrea Dovizioso 71 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Pol Espargaro 58 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Aleix Espargaro 54 pts ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
8 Stefan Bradl 50 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Andrea Iannone 41 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
10 Bradley Smith 40 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Alvaro Bautista 34 pts ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
12 Yonny Hernandez 27 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Nicky Hayden 26 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
14 Scott Redding 25 pts GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
15 Hiroshi Aoyama 24 pts JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
16 Cal Crutchlow 15 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
17 Karel Abraham 13 pts CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Colin Edwards 8 pts USA FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
19 Michele Pirro 7 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
20 Hector Barbera 2 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
21 Danilo Petrucci 2 pts ITA ART IodaRacing Project
22 Broc Parkes 1 pts AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
23 Mike De Meglio 0 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
24 Michel Fabrizio 0 pts ITA ART IodaRacing Project
25 Michael Laverty 0 pts WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport

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