Marquez maintains 100% record with stunning fourth win

2014-05-06 08:06
A huge crowd of more than 115,000 fans saw Spaniard Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) take a fourth premier class victory in a row at the Gran Premio bwin de España, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) also on the podium at Jerez.
Related Photos

M.Marquez (SPA)

A.Espargaro (SPA)

V.Rossi (ITA)

Podium

D.Pedrosa (SPA)
With victory in the south of Spain in his 100th Grand Prix, Marquez becomes the first rider to win the opening four premier class races of the year since Mick Doohan in 1992. Marquez had never previously won at Jerez in the World Championship.

No-one could live with Marquez in the heat of the afternoon in Andalusia as he built up a four second lead by lap 12 and never looked back, eventually crossing the line comfortably ahead of Rossi.

Indeed it was also another superb performance for Rossi as he returned to the podium for the first time since Qatar, holding off Pedrosa on the final corner.

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) had to settle for fourth at his 200th GP, crossing the line 8.5s behind Marquez on his 27th birthday.

Behind the factory Honda and Yamaha riders Andrea Dovizioso was the top man for the Ducati Team in fifth, whilst there was disappointment for his teammate Cal Crutchlow who retired early on his comeback and wild card test rider Michele Pirro who crashed out in the initial laps.

There was relief for Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) as he picked up his first points of 2014 in sixth, finishing just 0.112s behind Dovizioso.

Meanwhile, Bautista’s compatriot Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) was seventh and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) eighth, the pair of them also reaching the finish line within 0.5s of Dovizioso.

The top ten was rounded out by Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP).

The were retirements for Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) after some tyre issues and Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing) due to a technical problem, whilst crashes for Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) ended their respective point scoring runs.

The MotoGP teams will remain in Jerez overnight as they have a day of post-GP testing scheduled for 10am-6pm on Monday at the 4.4km circuit.

Classification MotoGP™ Race
1- Marc Marquez
SPA
Honda
45'24.134
2- Valentino Rossi
ITA
Yamaha
+1.431
3- Dani Pedrosa
SPA
Honda
+1.529
1st Open
7- Aleix Espargaro
SPA
Forward Yamaha
+27.917
Moto2™: Victory from pole for Finn Kallio
Moto2™ victory was secured by Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) at the Gran Premio bwin de España as he crossed the line 2.434s in front of Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert), with Jonas Folger (AGR Team) joining them on the podium in third place.
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M.Kallio (FIN)

Podium
An excellent ride to win from pole by experienced Finn Kallio, over a demanding 26-lap race in the southern Spanish heat, saw him close the gap on teammate Tito Rabat at the top of the standings to 16 points - as Rabat came home fourth.

Behind the front four Moto3™ World Champion Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) got the better of teammate and fellow lightweight class graduate Luis Salom for fifth place.

The top ten was completed by Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2).

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Gresini Moto2) crashed out and suffered a right shoulder dislocation in the process, whilst there were also crashes for Louis Rossi (SAG Team), Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3), Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), though fortunately they all escaped injury.

Classification Moto2™ Race
1- Mika Kallio
FIN
Kalex
44'56.004
2- Dominique Aegerter
SWI
Suter
+2.434
3- Jonas Folger
GER
Kalex
+3.668
Moto3™: Fenati wins brilliant race at sunny Jerez
The first race of the day at the Gran Premio bwin de España was won by Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46), who took victory from fellow podium finishers Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) and Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) on the final lap.

Source: MotoGP

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