Repsol Honda riders play starring role in thrilling race, with Marquez just centimetres from victory and Pedrosa 0.168s off the podium.
The Italian Grand Prix provided another spectacular race for MotoGP fans, from the first lap to the last. Repsol Honda Team riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa would both have big roles in the action, with the former placing second and his teammate, fourth.
Despite a poor start, Marquez was up into third by Lap 2. Ten laps in, an engine breakdown for Valentino Rossi cleared the way, and Marquez’ pursuit of Jorge Lorenzo was completed at the halfway mark. On a dramatic final lap, featuring several passes between the pair, the winner would be decided on the home straight. Lorenzo bested Marquez by 0.019s, thanks to his use of the slipstream. Dani Pedrosa had difficulties on the first few laps, but maintained a fast pace to fight for the podium until the final corner with Andrea Iannone. He eventually placed fourth, less than 5 seconds behind the winner and 0.168s off the podium.
Following the Italian GP, Marquez is second in the MotoGP World Championship with 105 points, while Pedrosa is fourth with 66.
Marc Marquez – 2nd, at 0.019 sec.
“Today we made a good race, we managed to get very close, and finally we made the podium which is always positive, but even with the slipstream I wasn’t able to overtake Jorge. We struggled throughout the weekend with acceleration and top speed. I tried to give my all and I did the best race I could do today, I really tried everything. I took several risks in an attempt to win, but on the home straight Jorge slipstreamed me. Now we have to keep working on acceleration because we’re still lacking a little in that regard. Honda is working hard back in Japan, as we do at the tracks and we’ll try to take a step forward ahead of the next race.”
Dani Pedrosa – 4th, at 4.910 sec.
“It was a better race than the last few we’ve had. The start was demanding, and with a full tank of fuel I lost some ground. However, my pace wasn’t bad and I was able to make back several positions while also taking advantage of mistakes by other riders. I managed to stick with Iannone and increase my pace to try to fight for third position, even if he was a little faster. I followed him, but it was difficult to overtake because he was very fast on the straight and it was hard to get even with him. We learned a lot about our bike in this race, so we’ll try to work on it to take a step forward in the future.”
