Unstoppable Marquez wins great Barcelona battle with Rossi and Pedrosa

2014-06-17 11:02
The 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.

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.

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 finishing line 2.7s behind Pedrosa.

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

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

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) crashed out early on, with Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) falling midrace, the yellow flags caused by the Frenchman’s flag initially distracting the front runners in their intense battle at the front.

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


Moto2™: Rabat cruises to win in front of home fans
Tito Rabat extended his Moto2™ World Championship advantage with a dominant win from pole at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, with Maverick Viñales and Johann Zarco also on the podium.

The Spanish Marc VDS Racing Team rider crossed the line 4.2 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.

The top ten was completed by Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) , Ricard Cardus (Tech 3), Axel Pons (AGR Team), Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3) and Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team).

Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) were both in the podium hunt until a late lowside crash by Torres ended his race, with Aegerter forced wide – the Swiss rider eventually finishing 14th.

Jonas Folger (AGR Team) saw his race ended prematurely as he crashed after taking evasive action to avoid hitting Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40). The Spaniard hit the ground in front of the German rider, with Salom later taken to hospital for treatment on a fractured finger.

Randy Krummenacher (IodaRacing Project), Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru Team JiR Webike) were amongst those who also suffered crashes, but none were injured.


Moto3™: Alex Marquez storms to Barcelona-Catalunya victory
Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) took victory from pole at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya on Sunday morning, storming to the win ahead of Enea Bastianini and Efren Vazquez.

Source: motogp.com

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