Repsol Honda Team duo place second and third, respectively, after intense battle at Misano.
The San Marino and Rimini Riviera GP concluded with the Repsol Honda Team riders both on the podium, occupying second and third place at Misano. Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa were the centre of attention in the race as they had an exciting battle for the runner-up spot in the contest won by Jorge Lorenzo. Of the Repsol Honda duo, it was Marquez who took the better placing, finishing ahead of Pedrosa and extending his lead in the overall standings. He now has 253 points to his name, 34 ahead of Pedrosa and Lorenzo –both on 219.
Dani Pedrosa had another good start at Misano, moving up two places from his grid position and putting himself into second. He trailed Lorenzo and was ahead of Marquez in the early stages, as the latter did not take off well. Marquez would run wide under braking on lap five, and was overtaken by Valentino Rossi.
The MotoGP rookie rode patiently from then on, clocking the fastest lap of the race on lap 11 and overtaking Rossi two laps later. He caught Pedrosa within a further three laps, getting past his teammate swiftly. However, Pedrosa did not give up and stuck to Marquez’ rear wheel, before passing him with seven laps remaining. Marquez was able to return the favour a few corners later, opening up a gap that gave him second place and 20 World Championship points.
Marquez maintains the lead of the overall standings, heading to the Aragon GP with 253 points. He is 34 ahead of Lorenzo and Pedrosa in joint second place.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
“I gave my all in the race today. I rode as well as I can ride, putting everything into every lap and trying to take every corner perfectly. Overall, this hasn’t been our weekend, generally speaking, because I had a lot of grip problems with the rear tyre on every day of the GP. In the race today it was even more noticeable, so I couldn’t have done things any better.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
2nd at 3.379 sec.
“We’ve taken another 20 World Championship points today and, considering how the race went, I think that is a good reward! At the start of the race I knew that I had to be careful, but I made two mistakes and lost a lot of time with the second of those. Maybe I was lacking a little experience; it’s my rookie season and it is normal to make a few errors. I also didn’t feel completely comfortable with a full fuel tank; from the midway point onwards I felt a lot better. To finish second is a great result, even though Lorenzo has gained five points on us, we are an extra four ahead of Dani [Pedrosa]. We are happy and have a lot of motivation to keep fighting hard at Aragon!”
