Marquez a perfect 10 with Indy win

MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez won his 10th consecutive race on Sunday at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi joining him on the podium.

The victory saw Repsol Honda’s Marquez become the first rider since Mick Doohan in 1997 to win 10 successive premier class races. It was also the 100th win for a Spanish rider in the premier class and the 500th win for Spain across all categories.

A slow start off the line had Marquez some way down the order and allowed Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) to make an early break. A three-way battle quickly emerged between Rossi, Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) as Dovizioso’s tires began to fade.

Lap 11 saw Marquez take the lead with an impressive move on the Yamaha pair, going on to win by just under two seconds from Lorenzo.

“The race was very hard, especially as the track temperature was very high. I struggled a little with the front tire so I stayed behind Rossi to try to keep the front tire cool. I tried to push but then the rear started sliding! Eventually I was able to open the gap and take 25 points,” said Marquez.

“We will try to fight for the victory in Brno. The test we had went well but it was very slippery so we don’t have too much data. I have never gone great there and Jorge and Vale are very strong there.”

Lorenzo got the better of his teammate Rossi for second.

“It has been a long road, but we are getting better and better. This is the closest race, other than Mugello, we have had to the front. I made a good start and that was critical. But I wasn’t strong enough on the brakes so I had to wait for other riders to make a mistake or run wide. I needed one or two tenths to catch Marquez, hopefully it will come at the next race,” said Lorenzo.

“The bike was working very well and I was able to get faster and faster, once Marc attacked Valentino his pace improved. Maybe on more of a Yamaha track and a track that is better for my style we can challenge him. Brno is luckily a track that I really like and our bike works well at.”

In finishing third Rossi becomes the first rider to score 4,000 premier class points.

“I knew it would be difficult as Marc and Jorge were faster than me in practice,” Rossi said. “It was a good start though as I was able to lead. I tried to push to the limit to stay with Marc but he got past. I would have hoped to have a bit of a better battle with Lorenzo. But I am satisfied as this is one of my worst tracks, with no podium since 2008!”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) finished fourth as he came through from eighth on the grid, gambling on a harder front tire.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) rode well to finish fifth with his teammate Bradley Smith crossing the line sixth after suffering a heavy crash on Saturday in which he aggravated an old finger injury.

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) was 20 seconds behind his seventh placed teammate Dovizioso in eighth, with Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) just behind Crutchlow at the finish in ninth. Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar) completed the top 10 but there was bad luck for his substitute colleague Leon Camier, who retired with six laps to go.

There were also retirements for Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) and Danilo Petrucci (IodaRacing Project) due to technical issues. In addition, at Turn 4 of lap one Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) crashed out with Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing).

On lap 13 Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) clashed as Bradl crashed out and Espargaro’s bike was badly damaged forcing him to pull off track, having initially tried to continue.

Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) stopped with a problem on lap 17, having been well placed in eighth.

In a restarted Moto2™ race at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix pole man Mika Kallio scored a runaway win, with Maverick Viñales and Dominique Aegerter joining the Finn on the podium.

Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) held his nerve to charge to victory around the modified Indianapolis Motor Speedway track in a shortened 16-lap contest, with the initial race cut short by a red flag due to a crash involving Azlan Shah (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team), Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) and Randy Krummenacher (IodaRacing Project).

Pasini walked away and was taken to hospital for precautionary scans, whilst Krummenacher’s machine was damaged and he was unable to participate in the restarted race despite the best efforts of the Octo IodaRacing Team.

The race was restarted for 16 laps with the riders in their original grid positions and Kallio would eventually cross the finish line 1.38s ahead of impressive rookie Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), while Technomag carXpert rider Aegerter’s good form continued in third.

A mistake from Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) with two laps to go under pressure from Viñales dropped him from second to fourth, allowing Kallio to close to within seven points of the championship leading Spaniard in the standings.

The Moto3™ race at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix brought a first career win for Efren Vazquez, with Romano Fenati and Jack Miller joining him on the podium.

A great battle saw a front running group pull away in the early laps with the lead changing hands throughout the 23-lap contest, only for Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) to secure maximum points for the first time – in his 116th Grand Prix ride.

Italian rider Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) had held the lead in the final stages but missed out by 0.065s on the finish line in second place, while Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took third to keep his title challenge going.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Point Standings (courtesy Yamaha)

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