World Championship leader takes victory at Aragon and increases advantage over Jorge Lorenzo to 39 points. Dani Pedrosa crashes out on lap 6 after contact with Marquez causes traction control sensor breakage.
It was a bittersweet day for Repsol Honda at MotorLand, as Marc Marquez took his sixth win of the season whilst Dani Pedrosa crashed out on lap 6 of the race. Contact between the two teammates caused a breakage to the traction control sensor cable of Pedrosa’s bike, sending him to ground and out of the race upon acceleration.
When the red lights went out to start the race, Jorge Lorenzo was quickest off the line. Attempting to escape as he had done at Misano, he forced a reaction from the Repsol Honda duo. After the incident between Pedrosa and Marquez, the latter recovered his pace and set about pursuing Lorenzo, whom he overtook with ten laps remaining. Marquez was followed for most of the way to the line by his title rival, but eventually took the chequered flag with just over a second in hand.
Marquez now heads the overall standings from Lorenzo by 39 points, 59 ahead of Pedrosa.
Race Direction released a statement after the Grand Prix, announcing that the incident between Marquez and Pedrosa is being analysed and a verdict will be made as soon as possible.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
DNF
“Fortunately I’m fine physically. I took a heavy knock to my hip and my groin area, but I was unable to escape relatively unhurt from what was a big crash. Marc went in too wide on the corner entry, clipped me from the outside and I went flying when I got on the gas. My mechanics told me later that the traction control cable had been cut by the contact.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st – 42:03.459
“Today was a very gruelling race, because I had to make two comebacks; the first was to catch Jorge after he broke free at the start, then I needed to make another after Dani passed me and I wanted to overtake him after two laps. I felt comfortable but I went a little wide under braking, lifted the bike up and made light contact with him. I’m not sure he even noticed it, but it was a bit of bad luck because the team told me I caused his traction control cable to snap and I’m sorry for that –it’s something very unusual to see. The important thing is that Dani is OK. I was eventually able to overtake Jorge and take the victory, which is important in terms of both the 25 points and for my morale.”
