Photography by Larry Lawrence
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 10, 2014) – At the Red Bull Indianapolis GP it looked like Honda’s Marc Marquez would have a battle on his hands early on from the Yamaha riders of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. After some hectic early laps, Marquez made a daring inside pass on both Lorenzo and Rossi, moving from third to first. After the early battle Marquez finally broke away and sprinted off to a 1.803 second margin of victory over Lorenzo. Rossi rounded out the podium finishers.
It was one for the record books. The victory for Marquez ties him with the legendary Giacomo Agostini, for the most wins to open a season with 10 consecutive victories.
Marquez now leads the series by 89 points after 10 or 19 rounds.
The race opened with Rossi leading way over the fast-starting Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone. Marquez got an uncharacteristically poor start and ran fourth on the first lap, giving some hope that a new rider might stand atop the podium.
Hector Barbera and Danilo Petrucci have entered the pits early in the race. Leon Camier also pitted after running in 15th early in the race. He tried to go in again, but there was an electrical issue with his Drive M7 Aspar Honda and his debut (as a replacement for the injured Nicky Hayden) was done.
Stefan Bradl crashes out of after contacting Aleix Espargaro. Both were out of the race.
Andrea Iannone has pulled off with a mechanical problem. In the end only 15 riders remained on the track meaning every rider who finished scored a world championship point.
On lap 11 Marquez made his heart stopping move to take over the lead. Rossi briefly went back to the front, but Marquez prevailed and gradually pulled away from Rossi and Lorenzo. By lap 15 Lorenzo made his way past his Yamaha teammate and the top three were set. Lorenzo was as close as his been all season, just 1.8 seconds back. It matched his best result of the year. Rossi was 6.5 second behind the leader at the checkered flag. It was his sixth podium of the year and moved him to within four points of Dani Pedrosa for second in the standings.
Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa ran as far down as sixth in the opening laps, but eventually worked his way up to a fourth-place finish. Pol Espargaro scored his third top-five finish of the season on the Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha. His teammate Bradley Smith was sixth, going ahead of Dovizioso late. Cal Crutchlow, Scott Redding and Hiroshi Aoyama rounded out the top 10.
Texan Colin Edwards finished 13th in his final GP on American soil. It marked his second best finish of the season on the NGM Forward Racing Yamaha.
“The race was so hard,” Marquez said. “Especially the traction was so high compared to yesterday. It was most difficult in the beginning because I struggled a little bit with the front tire. Then I chose to stay behind Valentino and tried to wear away the tires. When I checked that the front tire was OK I tried to push, but then the rear was also sliding a lot. And Lorenzo had a very good pace. It was so difficult to open the gap, but in the end I was able to open up some distance and take the 25 points.”
Next up for the series in Brno in the Czech Republic next week.
Results of the 2014 Red Bull Indianapolis GP – Aug.10, 2014
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 42m 7.041s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 42m 8.844s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 42m 13.599s
4. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 42m 17.057s
5. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 24.848s
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 26.645s
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 42m 27.800s
8. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 42m 46.837s
9. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 42m 47.548s
10. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 43m 2.801s
11. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 43m 12.171s
12. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia) 43m 12.387s
13. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 43m 15.960s
14. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 43m 16.244s
15. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 43m 37.654s
Leon Camier GBR Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) DNF
Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) DNF
Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) DNF
Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) DNF
Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) DNF
Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Avintia) DNF
Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) DNF
Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) DNF
