Repsol Honda Team rider takes spectacular victory at the Italian Grand Prix, besting Jorge Lorenzo on the last lap of a hotly contested race. Dani Pedrosa places fourth, lacking pace shown in practice.
One of the most beautiful tracks on the MotoGP calendar witnessed one of the races of the season this Sunday, as the Mugello circuit in the valleys of Tuscany was filled by more than 77,000 fans for a battle between Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo. The dup battled for victory right up to the final corner, with Marquez winning the Italian Grand Prix. It was a sixth consecutive win for the World Championship leader, with teammate Dani Pedrosa just off the podium in fourth.
Right from the start, it was obvious that a win at Mugello was going to have to be earned. Lorenzo attempted to repeat his start from a year ago and Marquez, who before completing the first lap had to overtake Andrea Iannone to move up into second, tried for 15 of the 23 laps to reach the Yamaha at the head of the field. In the last third of the race, the reigning World Champion managed to catch up with his fellow Spaniard and the fireworks began. There were nine passes between the two riders, but the definitive move came at the start of the last lap and served to give Marquez a sixth consecutive victory.
Pedrosa had a more difficult race, clipped by two riders at the start and dropping down to eighth. Lap-by-lap he made up ground and reached fourth place, albeit far from the top three. After six races he has 96 points and is third in the World Championship –one point behind Valentino Rossi. Unbeaten so far this season, Marquez leads the way on 150.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st, 41:38.254
“I am very happy with this win; Jorge and I had a really good battle and had a lot of fun out there! I wasn’t expecting the victory, because it has come at a circuit that I had marked on the calendar as being one for picking up Championship points –not thinking about winning the race. However, I saw that it would be possible and took more risks than at other races, because Jorge and Vale were very fast and we were finding it difficult to keep up the same pace. I think that we did a great job all weekend, and the change that we made to sixth gear in the warmup was very important too; we did this to help pass using a slipstream at the end of the straight. I am very pleased with how the entire weekend went, and now it is time to look ahead to my home Grand Prix –racing at Montmelo is always special.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
4th, + 14.046 sec.
“It was a tough race and I wasn’t able to get the result that I was hoping for here. My arm is still causing me issues and I wasn’t able to push one hundred percent so thanks to my team for their patience whilst I still recover. The race today was interesting, and I congratulate Marc and Jorge for a nice battle! I think that it is positive to see that we are up there fighting and that we have improved on a few things. Now we have to continue working so that we can be up in the leading group as well, and have some fun with them, but I need to be physically 100% to be able to do so. Tomorrow I will go for a check up with Dr. Mir and hope to be fitter in time for Montmelo in two weeks time.”
