Mugello podium Marquez wins with Lorenzo second and Rossi third
Mugello, Sun June 1st -An intriguing duel between Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) saw the former come out on top at Mugello, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) joining them on the podium at his 300th Grand Prix.
The two Spaniards put on a great show in front of the Italian crowd, battling for the lead for several laps, only for Marquez to clinch a sixth successive victory in 2014 by 0.121s on the final lap.
At his 300th race the yellow sea of fans were willing Rossi to capitalise on any mistake from the front two, and although The Doctor had to settle for third by just under three seconds it was still a great ride for him from 10th on the grid.
Earlier in the day the only other rider to have reached 300 Grands Prix, Rossi’s friend Loris Capirossi, had ridden an emotional tribute lap for the late Marco Simoncelli – now a MotoGP™ Legend – on a Honda Gresini bike.
With Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and impressive rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) the next two across the finishing line after Rossi – albeit more than 10 seconds back – there were four Spaniards in the top five.
Behind them Italians Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) also got great support from the crowd en route to sixth and seventh respectively, with Iannone making a brilliant start and leading in the early stages having started second on the grid.
Marc Marquez 1st – “I am very happy with this win; Jorge and I had a really good battle and had a lot of fun out there! I wasn’t expecting the victory, because it has come at a circuit that I had marked on the calendar as being one for picking up Championship points –not thinking about winning the race. However, I saw that it would be possible and took more risks than at other races, because Jorge and Vale were very fast and we were finding it difficult to keep up the same pace. I think that we did a great job all weekend, and the change that we made to sixth gear in the warmup was very important too; we did this to help pass using a slipstream at the end of the straight. I am very pleased with how the entire weekend went, and now it is time to look ahead to my home Grand Prix –racing at Montmelo is always special.”
Jorge Lorenzo 2nd – “I’m happy, I could be more happy if I had won but I tried my best. Probably in the last corner I should have stayed more in the inside to try to overtake him on the inside line but I made a mistake and went wider and it was impossible to overtake him on the straight. When I feel physically strong and the bike has a small improvement I can be there and fight with him. We have some margin, some physical condition to improve for me and the bike can make another step so we will get better. I’ve worked really hard to be more physically fit and the team also worked very hard this weekend to give me a great bike, so thank you to them.”
Valentino Rossi 3rd– “Today was a great day for all the people and for MotoGP. Mugello is one of the greatest race tracks in the world; a lot of people around and the race was very funny with a great battle between Jorge and Marc. I wasn’t too far from them and all the people were happy for my podium. It is a great emotion as always, it was a solid race from fourth row to third. I think I had the chance to battle with them but unfortunately we made a mistake yesterday in practice but we will try in Barcelona again. The podium in Mugello is always fantastic, it’s the most special moment of the season, it’s like a great concert. It’s a great party for MotoGP and motorcycling because the passion in Italy is amazing. This is my 300th GP, so I’m in the middle of my career, another 300 before the end!”
The top ten was completed by Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing).
Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) and Michel Fabrizio (Octo IodaRacing Team) both retired from the race with technical problems.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) crashed out on lap 4, but walked away unharmed. Shortly afterwards Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) went down, with the German being hit by the Englishman’s bike as it slid across the track, with both riders fortunately avoided injury.
Dani Pedrosa Honda 4th -“It was a tough race and I wasn’t able to get the result that I was hoping for here. My arm is still causing me issues and I wasn’t able to push one hundred percent so thanks to my team for their patience whilst I still recover. The race today was interesting, and I congratulate Marc and Jorge for a nice battle! I think that it is positive to see that we are up there fighting and that we have improved on a few things. Now we have to continue working so that we can be up in the leading group as well, and have some fun with them, but I need to be physically 100% to be able to do so. Tomorrow I will go for a check up with Dr. Mir and hope to be fitter in time for Montmelo in two weeks time.”
Stefan Bradl LCR Honda, DNF: “I am speechless. I was anxious to race here in Mugello but now I want to forget this weekend as soon as possible. This morning I had a massive crash in the warm up session and I had to deal with the pain in the race (especially the right arm and the elbow). The feeling with the bike was good but after the start, in the first corner, I went wide loosing three positions. After that I was preparing to overtake the guys in front of me but suddenly in the second chicane on turn five Crutchlow crashed and his bike tumbled in the track and I was not able to avoid it. His bike hit me in the back and I had another big crash similar to this morning. This morning at 360° and this afternoon at 180° so I will leave Italy with zero points and a lot of pain. Once again I must thank the Team for their efforts and all the LCR supporters for their affection”.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) DNF “I would love to have something more to say, but I think it was just a case of having the wrong tyre. I was using the hard compound in the front that we had previously ran in FP3 and which made me crash after doing a mistake at the last corner. Therefore, the initial feedback was not that great and I much preferred the soft option but as the track conditions were quite hot today we were recommended the use to the hard tyre like everyone else, so we followed the suggestion. Unfortunately though I’m not used to that tyre on this track and also, I felt like it didn’t work with my riding style. The front tucked at the Arrabbiata 1 which was turn 8 but in all honesty there wasn’t much I could do about it. It’s very frustrating as I had the race pace to get a really good result but from the first lap I could feel that things weren’t going to plan. Now we will wait for Barcelona where I am confident that everything will improve.”
Mugello race results 01/06/2014
1 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 41’38.254
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0’00.121
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’02.688
4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0’14.046
5 Pol Espargaro Yamaha ESP 0’15.603
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 0’17.042
7 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 0’17.129
8 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 0’27.407
9 Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha ESP 0’41.886
10 Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 0’45.212
11 Michele Pirro Ducati ITA 0’45.433
12 Karel Abraham Honda CZE 0’45.831
13 Scott Redding Honda GBR 0’45.839
14 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 0’46.834
15 Colin Edwards Forward Yamaha USA 1’09.554
World Championship Standings
Rider Standings and points After Race 6 of 19
1. Marc Marquez Honda ESP 150
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 97
3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 96
4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 65
5. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 63
6. Pol Espargaro Yamaha ESP 49
7. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha ESP 44
8. Stefan Bradl Honda GER 39
9. Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 34
10. Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 34
11. Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 34
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 23
13. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 23
14. Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 22
15. Scott Redding Honda GBR 21
16. Cal Crutchlow Ducati GBR 15
