Unstoppable Marquez makes it five-in-a-row with another perfect weekend

2014-05-19 07:21
Repsol Honda sensation, Marc Marquez, has 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. 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). Teammate Dani Pedrosa struggled to find his rhythm in the 28 lap race, slowly progressing through the field from ninth on the grid to fifth by the chequered flag.

It was a chaotic start to the race with Marc slipping back from pole to ninth – after being pushed wide by Lorenzo – and Dani dropping a position to tenth by the end of lap one. As things began to settle down, and the race found it’s tempo, Marc started to pluck off the riders in front of him and by lap seven he was already up to fourth, with Dani also passing Smith and Dovizioso into seventh by lap nine. Marc then set the fastest lap of the race en route to passing Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro, and by lap thirteen he was on the tail of race leader Valentino Rossi. A slight error from the Italian gifted Marc first position and from this point he didn’t look back.

Dani found some rhythm on lap sixteen, passing Bradl and then on lap eighteen traded places twice with Lorenzo. On lap twenty he made the pass stick and took fifth place but despite a late challenge he was unable to close in on Pol Espargaro and finished 0.3s behind the fellow Spaniard, less then one second off the podium.

With his fifth win of 2014, Marc 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 in the riders’ Championship to 42 points, Honda lead the constructors’ Championship by 38 points and the Repsol Honda Team lead the teams’ Championship by 82 points after five rounds.

TEAM QUOTES
Marc Marquez profile image
Marc Marquez
1st - Championship Standing: 1st - 125 points
“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 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 comeback 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!”
Dani Pedrosa profile image
Dani Pedrosa
5th - Championship Standing: 2nd - 83 points
“It was a very difficult race to manage, because I didn't get a bad start but had Iannone and Smith coming through very strong on the opening corner; they split the group and even pushed a rider off-track. However, this wasn't the main problem, I had an issue with the front tyre preventing me from making my way up the order. Every time that I tried to be more aggressive I had a lack of grip and it took many laps for me to move forward. It's a shame, because I didn't find a setup that allowed me to ride comfortably and we didn't have a good race. I think I can go a lot faster here than what we saw today”
RACE RESULTS
Grand Prix de France - Round 5

Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 25 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 44'03.925
2 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA 20 Yamaha Factory YAMAHA +1.486
3 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP 16 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +3.144
4 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP 13 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA +3.717
5 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 11 Repsol Honda Team HONDA +4.077
6 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP 10 Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA +7.088
7 Stefan Bradl 6 GER 9 LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA +11.527
8 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA 8 Ducati Team DUCATI +22.103
9 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP 7 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +22.626
10 Bradley Smith 38 GBR 6 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA +23.108
11 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR 5 Ducati Team DUCATI +25.780
12 Scott Redding 45 GBR 4 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +39.523
13 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL 3 Pramac Racing DUCATI +42.544
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN 2 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA +42.736
15 Karel Abraham 17 CZE 1 Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA +56.644
16 Michael Laverty 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM +1'14.123
17 Colin Edwards 5 USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +1'19.723
18 Broc Parkes 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM +1'30.934
19 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI +1'34.521
20 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI DNF
21 Hector Barbera 8 ESP Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI DNF
22 Nicky Hayden 69 USA Drive M7 Aspar HONDA DNF
RIDER STANDINGS
Sunday, May 18th 2014

Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 125 Repsol Honda Team HONDA
2 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 83 Repsol Honda Team HONDA

Source: Honda Racing Corporation

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