Defending double World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) fought back tooth and nail from front-end issues issues at today’s French Grand Prix, using all his resources for a valuable fourth-place finish in a difficult race.
Marc MarquezzoomMarc Marquez Marc MarquezzoomMarc Marquez
The 22-year-old former 125 and Moto2 champion, still recovering from a fractured finger, started from pole position at the iconic motorsport venue, where the 4.185-km Bugatti Grand Prix circuit shares the pits and start-finish section with the 24-hour car track.
But Marquez was pushed off in the jostle into the second corner. He recovered his position immediately, but from that point was stricken with front-end difficulties that he blamed on an unexpected rise in track temperature compared with previous days.
Nursing the bike through the circuit’s many slower corners, Marquez dropped to sixth as eventual winner Jorge Lorenzo rode away to a secure lead over Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) third.
In the closing laps the Spaniard dug deep to close on two riders ahead of him. The three-way fight for fourth with Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Bradley Smith (Yamaha) raged to the flag. A determined Marquez won it by three tenths of a second. The 13 points are a valuable addition; after one win and one second place in the first four races.
His HRC factory team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) had a difficult and yet rewarding race, in his comeback ride after missing three races following surgery to fix an arm-pump problem. Pedrosa qualified eighth and started well, but slipped off unhurt on only the second of 28 laps.
Although hopes of a good top-ten finish were gone, the former 125 and double 250 champion scrambled back on board, anxious to test the strength of his recovery over full-race distance. That test was successful, even though he finished just out of the points 16th.
With sundry setbacks for other riders, it was left to Open category campaigners Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) and team-mate Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) to mop up the points. Honda’s 2006 MotoGP champion Hayden was a best-so-far 11th and top Open finisher. Former Superbike star Laverty claimed his first MotoGP points in 14th.
Both satellite-team riders on Factory Option Hondas crashed out. Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V) had qualified fourth, and was running well up in the top ten when he slid off with 21 laps remaining. Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) had by then already tumbled out.
Misfortune also stalked the other two Open riders. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS) retired with technical issues. Class rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS) – who joined the premier class direct from Moto3 – also crashed out, from a stirring four-bike fight for 11th.
Marquez now lies fourth overall in the championship, with Rossi in the lead.
A fourth different race winner sustained this year’s variety in the all-Honda Moto2 class, as Swiss former 125 champion Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex) took the lead on the fifth of 26 laps, and was not troubled again as he powered to his first victory of the season.
He displaced fast-starting points leader and local hero Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport Kalex) who was pushed to third by Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) in the late stages. Rabat is the first Moto2 champion to stay on to defend his title, and second was his best result of a slow-starting season.
Austin race winner Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing Speed Up) was fourth, closing to within three tenths of a second of Zarco over the line.
There was a strong battle for fifth, with first-time pole starter Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex) playing a leading role until he crashed after losing the position to Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex). Rins remounted but finished out of the points; team-mate Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex) also crashed out of the same battle.
At the end, Morbidelli held off former 125 World Champion Julian Simon (QMMF Racing Team Speed Up), with Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Kalex) right behind, all over the line in just over half a second.
Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex) was just clear of a pressing Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten Kalex) for ninth.
Jonas Folger (AGR Team Kalex), the only rider to win more than one race this year, crashed out while fighting for a top-ten position.
Zarco extended his points lead to 21 points, over newly second-placed Luthi, with Folger third.
Honda’s perfect podium record was preserved in Moto3. At the end of a typical tooth-and-nail battle over 24 laps, Italian star Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) finished second, just inches behind winner Romano Fenati (KTM).
Bastianini had started from 18th on the grid, after rain disrupted qualifying; but his ride through to second was eclipsed by triple race winner Danny Kent (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW), who was a lowly 31st in qualifying. The British points leader forged through to join the leading quartet and finish fourth, just 0.693 seconds down on Fenati.
Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda NSF250RW) played a strong role in what had been an eight-strong lead gang, along with pole starter Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW), until French rookie Quartararo crashed out, splitting the group. Antonelli finished fifth.
Two more of Honda’s dozen scored points, with Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) 11th and Livio Loi (RW Racing GP Honda NSF250RW) 13th. Championship hopeful Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) was out of luck. The Spaniard was also at the back of the grid, and escaped a second-corner melee only to fall at the next corner, scoring no points.
Kent extended his points lead; while Bastianini moved to second overall, knocking Vazquez down to third.
The next race is the Italian GP at Mugello on May 31.