Photography by Larry Lawrence
Marc Marquez saved the best for last. In the closing laps the defending MotoGP World Champion moved his Repsol Honda around Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and then on the final lap pulled out all the stops to secure victory in the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. It was Marquez’ third consecutive win in the MotoGP class, fifth straight counting his two previous Moto2 victories. Lorenzo, who led most of the race, tried his best but could not match the pace of Marquez in the final laps. He crossed Indy’s legendary yard of bricks 0.688 seconds behind Marquez.
World Championship points leader Valentino Rossi came out in a fantastic duel with Dani Pedrosa in the battle of the final podium spot. Rossi got off to a slow start, but reeled in Pedrosa late and the two went back and forth for several laps before Rossi finally secured third. Rossi finish was important in that it dimished his losses in his series lead over his Yamaha teammate Lorenzo. Rossi now leads by nine points (195-186). Marquez is charging up fast in third, now with 139 points.
Ducati’s Andrea Iannone finished fifth after an excellent dice with Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith. Just a little over 2-10ths of a second separated them at the end of the 27 lap final.
Pol Esparagaro recovered from a couple of crashes this weekend and was able to come home seventh. Cal Crutchlow was eighth, while Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top 10.
Sole American rider in the Grand Prix, Nicky Hayden, finished 16th on his Aspar Honda.
For Marquez the goal of getting the second half of the season off to a winning start was accomplished. He’s stated that he thinks he still has a chance to get back in the championship hunt, but he’ll need to go on a long run of wins. In this race he saw that Lorenzo had even better speed that he expected so that changed his strategy.
“Jorge was running faster lap times and I thought ‘OK it will not be possible to open up a gap,’” Marquez said. “So I wait until the end and I pass him.”
The series now moves to Brno in the Czech Republic next weekend.
2015 Indy MotoGP Results:
1. Marc Marquez (Honda)
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
5. Andrea Iannone (Ducati)
6. Bradley Smith (Yamaha)
7. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha)
8. Cal Crutchlow (Honda)
9. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati)
10. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati)
