Marquez fights back for French win

MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) produced another masterclass at Le Mans on Sunday to win from pole again, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) also on the podium.

Marquez produced a fantastic fightback after an early mistake to lead by a second on lap 16, having been 10th on lap 1. Rossi demonstrated his competitiveness again to lead for several laps in the first half of the race but ultimately could not hold off the rampant Marquez.

Repsol Honda sensation Marquez enjoyed a perfect weekend in Le Mans taking pole position (with a new record), setting a new fastest race lap (1:33.548 on lap 8) and crowning it with the victory (in a record time) in front of 88,222 spectators.

With his fifth win of 2014, Marquez is the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1972 to win the opening five races of the year in the premier class, the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2008 to win five successive MotoGP races and the first to win them all from pole since Mick Doohan in 1997, also on a Honda. He now extends his lead over Dani Pedrosa in the riders’ Championship to 42 points.

He also became the youngest ever rider (21 years and 90 days) to win five successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Mike Hailwood (22 years and 160 days old).

He enthused, “I am really happy with this win, which was different to the other victories. I made a mistake at the start; maybe I was too relaxed off the line, then when Jorge (Lorenzo) passed me I had to take a wide line otherwise we would have touched and as a result, many riders overtook me.

“However, from that moment on I began a really good come back, it was a lot of fun, ending in my fifth consecutive victory. Although it might look easy to people, we are working extremely hard and this is the reward for the whole team.”

Rossi pushed hard from the start, getting into the lead in the early stages from fifth on the grid.

The experienced Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider would later make a small error of his own to let Marquez through as the young MotoGP™ World Champion fought back.

Nonetheless Rossi’s 10th premier class podium at Le Mans delighted the nine-time World Champion after he had announced last Thursday that he wants to stay with Yamaha in MotoGP™ for two more years. Rossi has now stepped on to the rostrum at three of the opening five races of 2014. 

“I’m very happy about the race and the result,” he reflected afterwards. “I did a very good start and when I saw (Andrea) Dovizoso and (Stefan) Bradl in front I knew I could go faster than them and I overtook them. I felt good with the bike, I got in front and I tried and tried. Today was a little bit more difficult with the front maybe because the track was hotter. I tried the maximum and my pace wasn’t bad.

“I was waiting for Marc or for Jorge or Dani to arrive, especially Marc. When he arrived I tried to push harder and make his job more difficult, but unfortunately at the crucial moment I made a mistake and I broke a little bit too deep. I went wide and it’s a great pity because that made it too easy for Marc. If not we would have been able to fight for longer because today I was not too bad. I want to try next time out in Italy in Mugello to have a good weekend and to fight with him again.”

On reaching the milestone of 150 top class podiums, with 186 to his name in all categories, Rossi stated, “I’m happy because 150 is a lot and I’m not far from 200 podiums overall in 300 races. I’ve had a long career but I’m working really hard to still be here.”

Meanwhile, it was Bautista’s first podium since 2012 and a great reward for the determination he has shown since his three DNFs at the start of the season.

Starting from seventh in the grid, the Spaniard produced a strong performance aboard his Honda RC213V, undertaking several passes and settling into third place with 10 laps to go.

Bautista stated, “We have experienced a difficult start to the season, in which we have suffered so much, but we always continued to work hard, so I would like to thank the team because they worked very well throughout the whole weekend. I knew I could get a good result in the race because during practice we were very close to the other riders, apart from Marquez who has always shown a higher potential.

“I started the race pretty well, but in the early laps there was a lot of traffic; in any case I kept calm and slowly I took my pace, recovering many positions. Once I reached the third position, I tried to push to try to catch Rossi, but the gap was too big. Thanks to the whole team and our sponsors, who were close to us even in difficult times.”

An excellent ride from rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) saw him hold off Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) for fourth. Pedrosa appeared to be riding in significant discomfort after recent arm pump surgery.

Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finished three seconds behind Pedrosa in the unfamiliar territory of sixth for the 2010 and 2012 MotoGP World Champion.

Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) recovered from his recent arm operation for seventh, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) also in the top 10.

Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) crashed on the first lap after contact with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), only for the Italian to go down shortly afterwards. Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) was also an early crasher, though none of those three were seriously affected by the incidents.

Victory in the Moto2™ Monster Energy Grand Prix de France race was clinched by Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) at Le Mans, with Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) and Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) following the Finn across the finish line.

Kallio rode calmly from fourth on the grid, hunting down provisional race leader Corsi for the victory and taking over at the front with eight laps to go. Corsi eventually finished a second behind the winner, holding off a late challenge from championship leader Rabat – who had to settle for third. 

Young Spanish rookies Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) and Luis Salom (Pons HP 40) were both in the podium chase as they gathered more Moto2 experience, eventually finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Another 2014 intermediate class debutant Jonas Folger (AGR Team) was sixth, having started on pole.

In perfect conditions at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took victory in another exciting Moto3™ contest, with Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team) joining him on the Le Mans podium.

Another brilliant race saw eight riders in podium contention on the last lap with Miller holding off a challenge from pole man Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) in the final stages to secure his third win of the year.

Rins led by almost two seconds at one point but was eventually pulled back for second, with Viñales riding bravely to achieve his first ever Grand Prix podium result.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Point Standings (courtesy Repsol Honda)

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