Second consecutive first and second place for Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Reigning MotoGP World Champion claims third win from opening three races.
The Grand Prix of Argentina saw Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa in top form, as the duo took the first two spots on the podium and continued to lead the way on the overall standings as a result. Marquez has 75 points to his name and Pedrosa 56. With three wins and three pole positions from the opening trio of races in 2014, Marquez keeps on hitting new milestones; Valentino Rossi in 2001 was the last time that a rider managed to win the opening three races of a season, and one has to go back to Giacomo Agostini in 1971 for the most recent occasion in which a rider did so with three pole positions as well.
The race featured a nervy start, as mistakes and light brushes of contact on the opening corners saw five riders side-by-side after the opening lap in pursuit of leader Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa and Marquez had dropped back into this group, in sixth and seventh, respectively. Marquez was able to shake off the traffic first, and began recovering ground on the Yamaha rider until he took the lead with 9 laps to go. He made a final push and clinched his third win of the year.
It was not until the end of the race and after setting the fastest lap of the contest that Pedrosa would catch Lorenzo, and he overtook him on the penultimate corner of the penultimate lap. He would eventually cross the line just over 2 seconds behind his teammate Marquez.
The World Championship heads straight to Europe for the next round, which takes place next weekend as Jerez hosts the Spanish Grand Prix.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st. 41:39.821 sec.
“I am happy with how the weekend went in general and I’d like to thank all my team! I think it was a nice race for the fans, with plenty of passes and I wasn’t expecting it to be like that. As the race went on and I saw what the gap was to Jorge Lorenzo and I tried to catch up with him quickly and spend a few laps on his tail. When I saw that Dani [Pedrosa] was getting closer, I tried to overtake in order to maintain more of a gap. I took 25 more points today which are very important and I’ve put together three wins in a row, but we are aware that the season is very long and we are now heading to Jerez where Dani and Jorge are very fast. We will need to be up there with them, fighting for the win!”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
2nd. + 1.837 sec.
“I enjoyed the race but after losing some time at the start it affected me and I found myself alone again. In the final part of the race I had a good pace and was able to recover places, but it didn’t count for much. I took second place, but with the pace that we had we could have pushed for the win. You always have to learn and maybe I saved my tyres too much when I was riding as part of the group. Fortunately we found a good setup that allowed us to be more competitive, and this is positive.”
