@Honda's Marquez Back on Podium Form in #Assen Thriller
Honda MotoGP rider Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) bounced back from two no-score Grands Prix to claim second place after a race-long battle with veteran multi-champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) that had the 97,000-strong crowd cheering to the echo.
Marc MarquezzoomMarc Marquez Marc MarquezzoomMarc Marquez
The issue was in doubt until the final corner – the notorious Timmerbocht chicane that closes the 4.542-km lap of the classic Dutch TT circuit. Marquez had already gained and then lost the lead to the pole starter over a tense 26 laps, and he made one last lunging attack after closing up again on the last one.
He thought he had done enough as he dived inside, only to see Rossi ricochet off after they touched, cutting the final corner to cross the line 1.2 seconds ahead.
It was a typical incident at the famous corner, overlooked by packed grandstands, where many such race-deciding clashes have helped to make this a legendary event.
Former 125cc and Moto2 World Champion Marquez’s rostrum return is a welcome resumption of the form that swept him to two consecutive MotoGP titles in 2013 and 2014. His quest for a third has had a difficult start, with one win and a second place undermined by three race crashes, including the last two rounds.
For this race, the 22-year-old Spaniard gambled on a significant rejig of his factory machine, with a new combination of chassis and rear suspension that he had not been able to test fully. A front-row start proved the strength of his decision, followed by a trade-mark front-running race; and he leaves the Netherlands feeling back on target for race wins.
Team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) finished eighth, his hopes dented by a heavy tumble in morning warm-up that forced a switch to his spare machine. Former 125cc and double 250cc champion Pedrosa had qualified fourth, but lost positions after a poor start, fighting his way back through after finishing the first lap 12th.
Pedrosa is making his own comeback after arm-pump surgery earlier in the season meant he missed three races, but his hopes of repeating his podium third-placed finish of the last round will have to be deferred to the next round in two weeks in Germany.
Instead, the second-best Honda in the race was one former World 600 Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V) who took sixth, after a strong battle in a tight group, fifth to eighth covered by less than four tenths.
The second satellite-team rider, Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V), also finished in the points, crossing the line 13th.
Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) was Honda's top Open category finisher in 16th, one frustrating place out of the points. His team-mate Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) crashed out of a points-scoring position. Fellow class rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS) also crashed out, on the first lap.
Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS) did not start, after suffering foot injuries at the last round.
The all-Honda Moto2 class brought a third win of the year – his second in succession – and an increased points lead to Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport Kalex).
The race was shortened from the scheduled 24 laps to 16, after a collision on the very first corner left an oil spill on the circuit and triggered a delayed restart.
Zarco battled with defending champion Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex), but at the end the Spaniard had no answer to his rival’s speed. Rabat is the first champion in the class to stay on to defend his title, and lies second overall … but today’s result extended Zarco’s lead to a valuable 45 points.
Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing Speed Up) made a return to the rostrum for the first time in five races with a strong third place. Added to one win and a second, this also reinforced his championship position, where he lies third.
Class rookie Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex) was fourth, at the head of close trio, from Le Mans GP winner Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Kalex).
Jonas Folger (AGR Team Kalex) dropped to seventh, after having taken a flying start and leading the first seven laps. Mika Kallio (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) narrowly regained eighth from class rookie Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex), with Simone Corsi (Forward Racing Kalex) completing the top ten.
In Moto3 a seven-strong lead group battled without cessation over 22 laps and two out of the three rostrum finishers were Honda NSF250RW riders.
Victory went to Miguel Oliveira (KTM) by 0.066 of a second, with the Hondas of Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) and points leader Danny Kent (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) both just fractions of a second behind; and likewise erstwhile leader Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) in fourth.
Pole starter Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) also had a turn in the lead, but was sixth over the line, still barely half a second behind the leader, after the final game of tactics at the last chicane.
Grand prix rookie Quartararo has now twice been second in his first season; fourth was a career best for fellow-rookie team-mate Navarro. As importantly, Kent’s canny third once again increased his championship lead. The four-race winner is now 57 points clear of second-placed Bastianini.
Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda NSF250RW) and John McPhee (SaxoPrint RTG Honda NSF250RW) were ninth and tenth, fighting hard in a big group disputing eighth. Livio Loi (RW Racing GP Honda NSF250RW) and Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) were in the same group, finishing 13th and 14th, to make it eight Hondas in the points.
The next race is the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, on 12 July.
Marc MarquezzoomMarc Marquez Cal CrutchlowzoomCal Crutchlow
Honda MotoGP Rider Quotes
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team: 2nd“I am very happy that I’m back on the podium and I had a good race, fighting for victory until the end. I think it was a moral victory for us, but we were riding at the limit at the last chicane. We have worked very well all weekend and I have to thank the team, because you regain confidence when you’re with the best team in the world. They are helping me a lot and this was shown by the fact that, at a track where we are usually not so strong, we fought for the win until the last corner. We’ll see if we can take another step forward in the coming races. We rode a last lap to win the race, especially on the last chicane. I had studied things well and knew where I had to brake in order to be able to overtake Vale, and so I did that but it didn’t end like I wanted …”Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR: 6th“After three non-finishes, I had to finish this race. Sixth place and 24 seconds off the winner is not where I wanted to be though. I believe we had the pace to finish fourth, but I couldn’t get away from the group, because in the straight line their bikes were faster than mine. Dovizioso passed me six or seven times on the straight, and kept spoiling my rhythm. It was a nice battle, but I should have been further up.”Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team: 8th“It was a bad day. I had a very strange crash in the morning: I was going straight, braking, and the tires were already up to temperature, but I lost the front without warning. Unfortunately the bike was damaged, then I took off my glove and saw I had cut my finger but I was still able to return for the race. I had to use my second bike and I had a problem with it, because when I released the clutch at the start the bike did not react. I had to release it completely and began to slide. I went from fourth to thirteenth, but in addition I also had a problem with the brakes. I tried to adjust them but I could not control the bike under braking. It was very difficult to adapt, but in the end I managed to make up some places. However, I couldn’t brake well and on the last lap Crutchlow took me out on the chicane and I lost more positions."Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS: 13th“I’m pretty frustrated. You think you take one step forward but then it feels like we take two back. Nothing seems to be going right at the moment and I feel like I am letting myself down. It is not good for the team too when they are putting in all their effort to try and find solutions to the problems. We’ve said we need to regroup before but nothing is improving and that is hard.”Nicky Hayden, Aspar Team: 16th“The weekend certainly hadn’t been as smooth as we hoped. We had some little, unique problems with changing engines and different things. The team really did a good job overnight and this morning. I was able to get into a good rhythm. In the race I got a great start, probably the best all year, then at the end of the back straight we were all in a group. Miller came in really fast and pushed me off into the escape road. So then I was dead last. The bike was working pretty good but I used up a lot of tire to get through Melandri, all those guys. I got close to Baz in 15th, but not enough to make the move. It was not an easy day and a lot of work to not get a point.”Eugene Laverty, Aspar Team: DNF“I was pushing hard. I did my fastest lap just before I crashed. I was starting to have some problems with the front moving around on that corner when I opened the gas. I almost saved it but I couldn’t. We were right where we needed to be: fighting for the ‘Open’ win. Unfortunately the position was only for 15th but anyway. I think for the ‘Open’ Honda here it was a difficult track. I tried my best to get that point to make it four successive points scoring finishes but I pushed a little bit too hard.”Jack Miller, CWM LCR: DNF“I had a reasonable start – a small touch with Eugene (Laverty) off the line but I recovered from that. Then coming into the last corner, trying to overtake Alvaro (Bautista), suddenly my rear tyre overtook my front. I had a little nudge from behind. It’s unfortunate: I felt good here all weekend, so to end up like this is bad. We’re working hard, and we’ll come back strong at the Sachsenring.”
Honda Moto2 Rider Quotes
Johann Zarco, Ajo Motorsport: 1st“Making two starts was not a big problem, because I was able to keep calm before going out again. My first start was not good and I thought I had a second chance to do well, but it didn’t really work like that. I repeated that I had to remain calm and enjoy the race, because we had done well in practice. I was fighting with Tito at the beginning of the race and that showed he would be up there and it wouldn’t be easy. We led in the final stretch, but I saw that I had a stronger pace and I thought taking the lead and trying to escape would be the best solution to get victory. I passed him and I saw that first I opened a gap of two tenths, then another, and I continued pushing on the last lap. This is my second win in a row, and it’s great.”Tito Rabat, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS: 2nd“I made a very good start and was in third position and trying to catch Jonas, but then I touched with Johann, which lost me some time. Once I eventually caught Jonas I tried to pull a gap at the front, but it wasn’t possible because today Johann was a little faster than me. Second is good and I’m happy with the work that the team are doing and also I think that my performance is good. I’m pleased to get with my first podium at Assen but now we need to do our best at Sachsenring to close the points gap to Johann.”Sam Lowes, Speed Up Racing: 3rd“I think we proved there’s not many guys that can stay with these two in front at the moment. I’m on a different make of bike, and I’m quite happy with my result today, and to go to the next race with another podium behind us is great for me and the team.”
Honda Moto3 Rider Quotes
Fabio Quartararo, Estrella Galicia 0,0: 2nd“I’m very happy to have finished on the podium and for having fought in the leading group. I would rather have won but it just wasn’t possible. Here, from Thursday, we have worked very well, especially after FP2. I’m very happy to have finished on the podium and for having fought in the leading group. In the race I was fifth or sixth for a long time and then we had some overtaking with [Romano] Fenati. At the end I said to myself ‘if I don’t push hard I won’t win’ and I managed to do some very hard braking at the chicane and I got second.”Danny Kent, Leopard Racing: 3rd“Wow, what a race, because there was war out on track during the entire distance today. I’m really happy to be on the podium again and to extend our lead in the championship, which is why we are here. I struggled a bit with our speed, even in the slipstream. It wasn’t easy to stay calm. But to be honest, when you’re racing in a group of up to seven riders you can’t really think about anything else, as there were countless battles for positions. I pushed really hard in the final lap, but honestly speaking I was a bit early on the brakes into the last corner. But we can be happy overall because we finished ahead of Bastianini, who is our main contender in the championship. So this was clearly my goal for today.”Jorge Navarro, Estrella Galicia 0,0: 4th“It was a hard-fought race. At first I started carefully after I crashed in the warm-up, to get my feeling back with the bike. When I saw that I was ok and that everything was in place, I decided to go, gaining positions gradually. Then there was a lead group and at the end I could see I had a chance, I attacked and I managed to run a few laps in the lead. It was a shame the mistake I made on the last lap, between Turns 10 and 11, which meant I then wasn’t where I needed to be on the back straight, so I couldn’t overtake with a slipstream. Even so, I am very happy with the work we’ve done, we’re going in a good direction and we have to keep working like this.”
Dani PedrosazoomDani Pedrosa
MotoGP World Championship Grand Prix 2015
Round 08: Netherlands Race
MotoGP Class
Rank
Rider (Team)
F/O
1 Valentino ROSSI (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) F
2 Marc MARQUEZ (Repsol Honda Team) F
3 Jorge LORENZO (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) F
4 Andrea IANNONE (Ducati Team) F
5 Pol ESPARGARO (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) F
6 Cal CRUTCHLOW (CWM LCR Honda) F
7 Bradley SMITH (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) F
8 Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team) F
9 Aleix ESPARGARO (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR MotoGP) F
10 Maverick VIÑALES (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR MotoGP) F
11 Danilo PETRUCCI (Pramac Racing) F
12 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Ducati Team) F
13 Scott REDDING (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) F
14 Yonny HERNANDEZ (Pramac Racing) F
15 Loris BAZ (Athinà Forward Racing) O
* F=Factory option, O=Open category
Moto2 Class
Rank
Rider (Team)
1 Johann ZARCO (Ajo Motorsport)
2 Tito RABAT (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS)
3 Sam LOWES (Speed Up Racing)
4 Alex RINS (Paginas Amarillas HP 40)
5 Thomas LUTHI (Derendinger Racing Interwetten)
6 Xavier SIMEON (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2)
7 Jonas FOLGER (AGR Team)
8 Mika KALLIO (Italtrans Racing Team)
9 Alex MARQUEZ (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS)
10 Simone CORSI (Athinà Forward Racing)
11 Julian SIMON (QMMF Racing Team)
12 Dominique AEGERTER (Technomag Racing Interwetten)
13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia)
14 Randy KRUMMENACHER (JIR Moto2)
15 Hafizh SYAHRIN (Petronas Raceline Malaysia)
Moto3 Class
Rank
Rider (Team)
1 Miguel OLIVEIRA (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
2 Fabio QUARTARARO (Estrella Galicia 0,0)
3 Danny KENT (Leopard Racing)
4 Jorge NAVARRO (Estrella Galicia 0,0)
5 Romano FENATI (SKY Racing Team VR46)
6 Enea BASTIANINI (Gresini Racing Team Moto3)
7 Brad BINDER (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
8 Karel HANIKA (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
9 Niccolò ANTONELLI (Ongetta-Rivacold)
10 John MCPHEE (SaxoPrint RTG)
11 Francesco BAGNAIA (MAPFRE Team MAHINDRA)
12 Andrea MIGNO (SKY Racing Team VR46)
13 Livio LOI (RW Racing GP)
14 Hiroki ONO (Leopard Racing)
15 Philipp OETTL (Schedl GP Racing)
Honda's Marquez Back on Podium Form in Assen Thriller
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Honda's Marquez Back on Podium Form in Assen Thriller
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