Unstoppable Marquez makes it five-in-a-row with another perfect weekend

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) continued his astonishing run of historic MotoGP victories with a stunning win at sunny Le Mans this afternoon. The 21-year-old reigning MotoGP World Champion won the French Grand Prix with a comfortable margin ahead of former champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), despite running off the track on the first lap, which forced him to fight back from tenth place.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) made it two Hondas on the podium with a storming ride to third that helped erase memories of a difficult start to his season. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) – both recovering from post-Jerez surgery to fix arm-pump problems – finished in fifth and sixth positions

Marquez started from pole position – as he has done at every race so far this year – but he lost out in the long drag to Le Mans’ high-speed turn one. This was no real worry for the youngster who knew that he and his RC213V had the pace to run at the front. But at the tight Garage Vert double right-hander he ran right off the track when Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) ran slightly wide just ahead of him. That dropped Marquez a further four places.

His comeback was spectacular. Showing remarkable cool, he was soon the fastest man on track, passing Pedrosa, Bautista and Bradley Smith (Yamaha) in short order. On lap seven he rode right round the outside of early leader Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and established a new lap record as he set off in pursuit of the top three: Bradl, Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) and Rossi.

He took Bradl and Espargaro on consecutive laps at Turn Two, then rapidly closed the gap on leader Rossi, who made things easy for his young rival by running wide at the Esses Bleu just before half-distance, allowing Marquez into the lead for the first time. From there he fully controlled the race, stretching his lead to 3.4 seconds at the start of the last lap, which he ended by cruising across the finish line, 1.4 seconds in front of his childhood hero.

Marquez now has a perfect score of 125 points from the opening five races, the first time any rider has managed this since Giacomo Agostini in 1971, a different era of racing when Ago enjoyed a huge machinery advantage over his mostly privateer rivals. And he broke another record today, becoming the youngest rider to score five premier-class victories.

Bautista, who scored his first points of the year at Jerez after crashing out of the first three races, was delighted with third place, which he grabbed from Espargaro with ten laps to go.

Pedrosa fought a long duel with old rival Lorenzo, eventually leaving his compatriot behind and then closing right up on Espargaro in the final laps, despite issues with front-end grip. Without that concern he would undoubtedly have been closer to the front.

Bradl wasn’t happy with his seventh-place finish. The former Moto2 World Champion ran second for the first two laps and was confident of a strong ride following pre-race changes to his rear suspension, aimed at improving edge grip. In fact the modification had the opposite effect, robbing the German of grip and allowing several riders to pass him.

Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R) was the top finisher aboard Honda’s new production racer, the RCV1000R. It was another impressive display from the young rookie, who won last year’s Moto2 race at Le Mans, after a set-up change that allowed him to push deeper into the corners.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) was happy enough with his weekend, but like many riders his performance suffered slightly in today’s warmer temperatures. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) was happy to score the last point.

Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) was the fastest RCV1000R rider in yesterday’s qualifying sessions but his race lasted only a few seconds before he crashed out when Andrea Iannone (Ducati) collided with him on the exit of the third corner.

The MotoGP circus now travels south to Italy, where the championship will reach one-third distance with the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello on June 1



Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: race winner

“I am really happy with this win, which was different to the other victories. I made a mistake at the start; maybe I was too relaxed off the line, then when Jorge passed me I had to take a wide line otherwise we would have touched and as a result, many riders overtook me. However, from that moment on I began a really good comeback and it was a lot of fun, ending in my fifth consecutive victory. Although it might look easy to people, we are working extremely hard and this is the reward for the whole team!”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 3rd

“I’m so happy to be on the podium, especially since it’s more than one year since I’ve had this feeling. After the three crashes we had in the first three races and the practice troubles we had at Austin and in Argentina, we began to work well again at Jerez. Here I felt so good on the bike from FP1, so we’ve been competitive all weekend. Marc was on another level today, but I could stay with others, always trying to keep my rhythm. My thanks to the team – this result gives us a lot of confidence.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 5th

“It was a very difficult race to manage, because I didn’t get a bad start but I had Iannone and Smith coming through very strong on the opening corner; they split the group and even pushed a rider off-track. However, this wasn't the main problem, I had an issue with the front tyre preventing me from making my way up the order. Every time that I tried to be more aggressive I had a lack of grip and it took many laps for me to move forward. It’s a shame, because I didn’t find a set-up that allowed me to ride comfortably and we didn’t have a good race. I think I can go a lot faster here than what we saw today.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 7th

“Honestly I am not so happy today because seventh position is not what we expected. Maybe the problem is the change we made from the warm-up to the race to the rear suspension, trying to find more edge grip. Definitively we went in the wrong direction because at the beginning on a new tyre I was pretty fast, but after six or seven laps I was not able to use my rear tyre out of the corners. I tried to regain something on braking but then I found my limit on the front, so Espargaro and Bautista passed me. For the rest of the race I could not find my pace and I managed to finish seventh. I am looking forward to the Mugello GP because that’s one of my favourite tracks and we can go for more there.”

Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 12th

“Overall I’m pretty pleased with the result today. On Friday I was struggling with the bike and the crash when I lost the front knocked my confidence a little. But the team and our suspension guys worked hard to improve the bike and, in FP4 on Saturday, the feeling was much better. This gave me the confidence in the front end I’d been missing and I was able to push harder as a result. My aim was to finish in the points and as the first Honda RCV1000R home today, and we achieved that, so I’m pretty happy. We started on a low on Friday, but we ended on a high today and you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 14th

“Today was a tough race but luckily after starting from 17th on the grid we came through to take a couple of points in 14th. The plan for the race was to put together a fast and consistent pace, especially in the first laps, and we have improved in comparison to recent races, so I am happy about that. Unfortunately the higher temperatures today compared to yesterday worked against us and with the soft tyre the feeling wasn’t the same as the rest of the weekend. My pace wasn’t as fast as I wanted at the end of the race but we will try to improve again at Mugello in two weeks.”

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing: 15th

“I took one point but certainly it wasn’t a good race for me. I must express my thanks to the team, because the bike worked perfectly. I tried to push one hundred per cent, but simply it wasn’t enough to get a better result. In the very end of the race I climb to 15th position only because Colin Edwards was out of fuel and crossed the finish line with a dead engine. It would be more fun beating him regularly in the race.”

Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: DNF

“The team have worked really hard all weekend and we have made some progress as a result, even in the warm-up this morning. So it is a shame that the weekend ended like this, with a crash that wasn’t my fault. Looking at the data it was probably my best start of the season so far but as we went through the chicane I could feel another rider touch my handlebar and I couldn’t do anything to avoid the crash. It is a shame for the team and for me but sometimes these things happen in racing. Luckily I am okay and we just have to look ahead to the next round.”

Event results - Round 5

1 Marc Marquez 44m03.925s ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Valentino Rossi 1.486 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Alvaro Bautista 3.144 ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
4 Pol Espargaro 3.717 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Dani Pedrosa 4.077 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Jorge Lorenzo 7.088 ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
7 Stefan Bradl 11.527 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
8 Andrea Dovizioso 22.103 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Aleix Espargaro 22.626 ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
10 Bradley Smith 23.108 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Cal Crutchlow 25.780 GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
12 Scott Redding 39.523 GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
13 Yonny Hernandez 42.544 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 42.736 JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
15 Karel Abraham 56.644 CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing
16 Michael Laverty 1'14.123 WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Colin Edwards 1'19.723 USA FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
18 Broc Parkes 1'30.934 AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
19 Mike De Meglio 1'34.521 FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
20 Andrea Iannone DNF ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
21 Hector Barbera DNF ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
22 Nicky Hayden DNF USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar

Championship standings

1 Marc Marquez 125 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 83 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Valentino Rossi 81 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Andrea Dovizioso 53 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
5 Jorge Lorenzo 45 pts ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Stefan Bradl 39 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Pol Espargaro 38 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Aleix Espargaro 37 pts ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
9 Bradley Smith 34 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10 Alvaro Bautista 26 pts ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
11 Andrea Iannone 25 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Nicky Hayden 23 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
13 Hiroshi Aoyama 21 pts JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
14 Scott Redding 18 pts GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
15 Yonny Hernandez 16 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
16 Cal Crutchlow 15 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
17 Karel Abraham 9 pts CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Colin Edwards 7 pts USA FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
19 Hector Barbera 2 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
20 Danilo Petrucci 2 pts ITA ART IodaRacing Project
21 Broc Parkes 1 pts AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
22 Mike De Meglio 0 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
23 Michele Pirro 0 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
24 Michael Laverty 0 pts WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport

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