Marquez in seventh heaven after wild win

The MotoGP Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya produced another brilliant race on Sunday, with Marc Marquez securing the victory on the final lap ahead of Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez crossed the line half a second in front of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Rossi, surviving a late scare as Pedrosa touched his rear wheel in the final stages, the latter almost crashing and having to settle for third.

The win is the 100th for Honda in the modern MotoGP™ four-stroke era and the triumph for Marquez was also historic as it came on the same day as an earlier Moto3™ victory for his brother Alex Marquez – the first time 65 years of World Championship competition that siblings have won Grand Prix races on the same day.

“Of course today was more difficult than Mugello, as the Yamaha riders were very strong early in the race,” Marquez acknowledged. “I was struggling a little bit but then I caught Valentino. I made a mistake in turn one and after that I lost maybe a second and I was catching Vale again. The last laps were so nice, the fans helped a lot. It was really special to fight the last laps with Dani and Valentino.

“It was also special to win on the same day as my brother, he did an incredible race. Also in Moto2 Tito Rabat won, I felt more pressure because if I didn’t win they would tease me a lot.”

Rossi led for much of the race with the Repsol Honda duo chasing him down in the final stages, with Pedrosa returning to form following his recent arm pump surgery and subsequent problems – only to make that late mistake. The threat of rain lingered for the duration of the race, though a light shower was short-lived.

There was some confusion at Turn Three mid-race due to a yellow flag, causing the leading group to close up. The last few laps saw Marquez and Pedrosa create a small gap, however when Pedrosa touched Marquez’s back wheel on the final lap, Rossi was able to take advantage and grab second with just one corner left.

This was the Italian rider’s fifth podium of the year. He sits in second in the standings with 117 points, five clear of Pedrosa.

“I think that it’s my best race of the season,” said Rossi afterwards. “I enjoyed it a lot. I am very satisfied. I made a good lap in qualifying despite not feeling confident. We modified the bike with the team and I had a lot more front feeling, I was stronger and faster.

“I pushed at the start. The temperature was better for us; if it was hotter we could not have fought for the victory. I started to taste the victory some laps from the end, but then Marc overtook me and then Dani overtook me so I lost a bit. It was impossible to come back.”

Pedrosa reflected, “I am really happy with the race and overall with the weekend. My target was to improve in qualifying and the start of the race. I did that and it allowed me to stay with the front group at the end.

“I could imagine the feeling for the fans to see the top four fighting so close, it was a very special race. We had a nice setting with the bike and try to push at the end. I touched him (Marquez) a little on the last lap, which was a shame because I lost one position. But I don’t feel sad, it was a good weekend.”

On the yellow flag incident, he commented, “I also had some confusion with the yellow flag. I couldn’t see the yellow flag, I just saw Marc move out and then I thought this pass was too easy! I looked around and saw some marshals so I dropped back to third just in case.”

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) followed the front three throughout the race but was never quite close enough to join the podium fight. He eventually crossed the line 2.7s behind Pedrosa.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fifth, staying in position despite running wide early on, while Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) finished just under two seconds in front of his brother Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) in sixth.

The top 10 was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) both retired due to technical issues.

Rabat extended his Moto2™ World Championship advantage with a dominant win from pole, with Maverick Viñales and Johann Zarco also on the podium.

The Spanish Marc VDS Racing Team rider crossed the line 4.2s ahead of Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), with Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) a further seven seconds back, after an incident packed race.

Zarco won a late battle for third, overcoming Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) and Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) in the final stages.

Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) took the Moto3 victory from pole on Sunday morning, storming to the win ahead of Enea Bastianini and Efren Vazquez.

In his 35th Grand Prix, having qualified on pole for the first time, Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Marquez took his second Moto3™ win, after triumphing at Motegi last year.

The Spanish rider crossed the line a clear 3.2s ahead of his nearest rival, to delight the home crowd, giving Honda a Moto3 victory to end KTM’s winning streak.

Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3 youngster Bastianini produced a great ride from second on the grid to finish in second place in just his seventh Grand Prix. Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) was third as he followed Bastianini home, trailing by just over a quarter of a second.

Championship leader Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rode intelligently to fourth place, gaining crucial extra points in the standings as he moved up from eighth in the final stages.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Point Standings (courtesy Repsol Honda)

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