Mistake on penultimate lap denies MotoGP World Championship leader Marc Marquez a podium at British GP. Dani Pedrosa has positive race to finish fifth.
The British Grand Prix provided a thrilling spectacle with the MotoGP race, in which Marc Marquez fought for the podium until the penultimate lap. Both he and teammate Dani Pedrosa were just off the rostrum, rounding out the top five. A group consisting of Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Iannone, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa battled for second place during the race, behind eventual maiden racewinner Maverick Viñales. In an attempt to pass Crutchlow for second, two laps from the chequered flag, Marquez ran wide and lost places to Rossi and Pedrosa. The World Championship leader managed to overtake his teammate on the final lap, as both finished just one second off the podium.
With two-thirds of the season completed, Marquez still leads the series with 210 points, 50 ahead of his nearest rival. Pedrosa is fifth, with 120 points.
Marc Marquez, 4th at 5.992 seconds >> Audio
“Today was one of those difficult Sundays because there were many ways of approaching the race, with many options for both the front and rear tyres. Perhaps we got it wrong with the front, because we chose the soft tyre, but that was what we thought was best before the race. I realised the mistake once the race was underway, and from there I decided to make the most of the situation. It’s a pity that I went wide under braking when fighting for second place, but in the end we rectified the situation quite well. We finished fourth and only lost three points from our overall advantage, which is what matters to us.”
Dani Pedrosa, 5th at 5.992 seconds >> Audio
“Overall it was a challenging weekend because of the track conditions. It has always been cold, sometimes with rain included, and we’ve never had any sun. It was hard to get a good feel for the tyres because there was no rubber laid down on the asphalt. I chose the soft-soft combination and I knew that I would have some issues in the final laps, but all in all I think it was the best choice at the moment. The good news is we’ve taken a step forward in terms of results and have regained a little more confidence, especially entering the corners. There are still some things that we need to improve, but we had a decent race and set some more-reasonable times. We’ll try to take the positives from here and work on the rest for the next race.”
