Marc Marquez has completed a dominant weekend by winning the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, leading home Dani Pedrosa in the third Repsol Honda Team one-two finish of the season. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo completed the podium as Valentino Rossi beat Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista to fourth.
Marquez’s victory ensures that the Spaniard has topped every session he has taken part in this weekend – something not done since Casey Stoner dominated the Australian Grand Prix event of last year. The victory marks Marquez’s third consecutive premier class race win and confirms a clean sweep of American successes this season, having also triumphed at Texas and Laguna Seca.
Marc Marquez
“I didn’t make a good start but I knew before the race that the end was the most important part. During the first ten laps I just tried to follow Dani (Pedrosa) and Jorge (Lorenzo) and save the tyres. Once the fuel had gone down a little I went on the attack. Then I tried to push a bit more, I opened up a gap and I was able to enjoy sliding the bike. It was so good.”
Commenting on the overall championship picture and the forthcoming series of races, Marquez continued, “The 25 points are important. I feel great here in the USA and I’ve won three races here this year now. That’s important. Now we go back to Europe and we will try to continue in the same way.”
“I had a perfect weekend and I will try to repeat that in the future but it will be difficult. There are still a lot of races to go and Jorge and Dani have a lot more experience. I know I will be stronger at some circuits than others so we will see.”
Dani Pedrosa
“It was a difficult one because the bike was spinning, front and rear, all through the race. With the riding style I have now (due to injury) I’m pretty static on the bike so I was not able to manage the sliding of the front and the rear. I was fighting throughout the race to stay on the bike. In the last laps I was able to increase my rhythm and get back to second place and get this result.”
“It is pretty amazing because this summer I was really just resting and could not train. So I’m very happy with this.”
Jorge Lorenzo
“I made a very good start and I had half a second advantage in the beginning of the race. I had a lot of hope because I knew I had a good pace but suddenly in the middle of the race Marc started to go faster and faster so it was impossible to win. I’m disappointed to not finish second, because in normal conditions without the drop in rear tyre this would have been possible. I’m happy to be back on the podium at a track that’s not normally a good one for us. I don’t feel perfect, I feel more tired than normal because I haven’t trained so much in the last two months because of the injuries. I felt tired at the end of the race and had some pain in the braking areas but I feel much better and in Brno and Silverstone I will be ok. I think from this moment we can only be better and better.”
From pole position, another poor start from the 20-year-old rookie saw Marquez fall behind both Lorenzo and teammate Pedrosa. He would overtake the pair on Laps 9 and 13, respectively, and – as his rivals continued to feel the effects of injured collarbones – would cross the finish line almost three and a half seconds ahead.
Pedrosa looked to be finishing the 27-lap race in third position, but sprang a surprise by slipstreaming ahead of Lorenzo at the start of the penultimate lap. For both Pedrosa and Lorenzo, this marked their first podium finishes since the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona some two months ago.
In fourth place, Lorenzo’s teammate Rossi rose from ninth on the grid and only on the final tour got the better of Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Crutchlow and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Bautista, who had enjoyed a race-long battle. Stefan Bradl finished seventh for LCR Honda MotoGP.
Valentino Rossi
“At the end the race was not so bad, especially compared with yesterday and especially the second half. I could ride the bike in a good way and I could enjoy it. I did a very good lap time in the second half and had great battles with Bradl and Bautista, but especially with Cal on the last lap, that was very funny. Fourth place here is good considering this track is one of the worst for me and considering I started from ninth I am quite happy. We still have to work and understand why in the first laps I can’t ride the bike and use the extra grip of the tyre. In the second part when the tyre slides I can enter the corner faster, I can go faster and I can make good lap times so we have to improve because the first three riders are very strong.”
Rounding out the top ten were Crutchlow’s teammate Bradley Smith and Ducati Team pairing Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso; the English debutant (who had run as high as fourth on Lap 1, thanks to a superb start) leapfrogged both of the red bikes as Hayden pushed Dovizioso wide at the final corner. This was a near repeat of a final-corner incident at Assen from which Smith also benefitted.
Four riders failed to finish the race. Attack Performance Racing wildcard Blake Young crashed on the opening lap, where problems hit Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar), Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) and Yonny Hernandez (PBM). Unable to race were both Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies, whose comeback was ruined when he separated his left shoulder on Friday, and Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham who heavily bruised a foot and shoulder, also on Day 1.
Racing continues next weekend at Brno, where Marquez (188 points) has extended his championship lead to 21 points from Pedrosa (167). Reigning World Champion Lorenzo (153) now sits 35 points behind the leader.
Results
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 44m 52.463s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 44m 55.958s
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 44m 58.167s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 45m 12.358s
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 45m 12.418s
6. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 45m 12.524s
7. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 45m 17.305s
8. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 45m 33.153s
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 45m 33.164s
10. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 45m 33.286s
11. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 45m 52.131s
12. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 45m 59.113s
13. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 46m 1.925s
14. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 46m 7.670s
15. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 46m 12.622s
16. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 46m 18.342s
17. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 46m 22.079s
18. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART CRT)* 46m 28.851s
19. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) +1 lap
Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) DNF
Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* DNF
Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) DNF
Blake Young USA Attack Performance Racing (APR-Kawasaki CRT) DNF
Championship Standings
1 Marc Marquez 188 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 167 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 153 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Valentino Rossi 130 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Cal Crutchlow 127 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Stefan Bradl 93 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Andrea Dovizioso 87 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Alvaro Bautista 81 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
9 Nicky Hayden 72 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Bradley Smith 59 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Aleix Espargaro 56 pts SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Michele Pirro 36 pts ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
13 Andrea Iannone 29 pts ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
14 Hector Barbera 24 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
15 Colin Edwards 20 pts USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
16 Randy De Puniet 19 pts FRA SUZUKI Suzuki Test Team
17 Danilo Petrucci 18 pts ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
18 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
19 Claudio Corti 7 pts ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
20 Yonny Hernandez 7 pts COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Alex De Angelis 5 pts RSM DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
22 Karel Abraham 5 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
23 Michael Laverty 3 pts GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
24 Bryan Staring 2 pts AUS FTR-HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
25 Hiroshi Aoyama 2 pts JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
26 Javier Del Amor 1 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
27 Ivan Silva 0 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
28 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
29 Blake Young 0 pts USA APR CRT Attack Performance Racing
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