Marc Marquez Signs New Honda Deal

 

Repsol Honda Team

Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez has signed a new two-year contract to remain with Honda.

In his debut season last year, the 21-year-old Spaniard won the title on his Repsol Honda Bike.

He currently tops the standings by 28 points, ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa, having won all four races from pole position this term.

"I'm glad to remain with this special group of people for another two seasons," said Marquez.

"I had always dreamt about being part of the Repsol Honda Team and, thanks to Honda, the dream came true a year-and-a-half ago.

"Everything happened very quickly last season and I would have never imagined that I could achieve what we did."

Honda executive vice president Shuhei Nakamoto added: "We are very satisfied to have reached an agreement to keep Marc in the team for a further two seasons."

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Spanish Jerez MotoGP Results 2014

 

Marc Marquez Took His Fourth vVctory of The Season

With victory in the south of Spain in his 100th Grand PrixMarquez 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.

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Results Pole Position 2014 MotoGP Jerez Spain

 

Marc Marquez is Participating In His 100th GP

Marquez now also boasts a 59% ratio of poles in all MotoGP starts (13 in 22 attempts) after clinching the top spot in Jerez, breaking the lap record en route with a 1’38.120.

Before qualifying, Marquez and his team calculated that a three-stop run would be possible during the 15 minute session, which they felt was important as the life of the soft rear tyre was apparently optimum for only one flying lap with track temperatures so high.

Marquez stole Lorenzo’s lap record from 2008 (1’38.189) – the last season in which there were still qualifying tyres in MotoGP – and recorded the fastest ever official lap on two wheels at Jerez with a time of 1’38.120 on lap eight of eight.

“I am very happy with this pole position, as it was hard fought and I wasn't expecting it. We are suffering a little more here than at other tracks, but despite this we are still at the same level as Lorenzo and (Dani) Pedrosa,” said the young Spaniard.

On his unique pit strategy he added, “We changed it at the last minute; I asked if it would be possible to use three soft tyres, and they said that it was. It was all last minute and I am satisfied with how it worked out, but we know that Sunday is the important day. Jorge and, above all, Dani have a great pace”

His teammate Dani Pedrosa opted for the normal two stop strategy, completing two flying laps with each tyre, and clocked a time of 1’38.630 placing him on the front row in third for Sunday’s 27 lap race.

Pedrosa commented, "We took a step forward with the bike setup today and also went better with the race tyres. In the qualifying session we tried to do as well as possible, but it is always difficult to put in a really fast lap. We will try to get a good start, then have a good race.”

1. 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 292.1 1’38.120
2. 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 287.5 1’38.541 0.421 / 0.421
3. 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 292.7 1’38.630 0.510 / 0.089
4. 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 289.4 1’38.857 0.737 / 0.227
5. 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 284.8 1’39.007 0.887 / 0.150
6. 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 291.0 1’39.222 1.102 / 0.215
7. 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 291.1 1’39.243 1.123 / 0.021
8. 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 289.2 1’39.293 1.173 / 0.050
9.  38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 290.6 1’39.390 1.270 / 0.097
10. 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 291.8 1’39.751 1.631 / 0.361
11. 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 286.3 1’39.814 1.694 / 0.063
12. 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Drive M7 Aspar Honda 280.0 1’39.826 1.706 / 0.012

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Argentina MotoGP 2014 Points standings

 

Third successive Triumph For Marquez

As the race at Termas de Rio Hondo got underway Marquez got caught up in the crowd on lap one but played it patiently, picking off his opponents to get into second - eventually hunting down early leader Lorenzo, with his winning move coming 8 laps from the end.

It was a good day for the Repsol Honda team as Pedrosa stayed in the chase throughout the race, eventually overtaking Lorenzo on the penultimate lap for second.

Lorenzo’s Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate Valentino Rossi was briefly into second early on, but ran wide twice and dropped to seventh before fighting his way back up to fourth.

Solid runs from Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) saw them finish fifth and sixth – and they were 15s and 19s respectively back on Marquez.

Monster Yamaha Tech3 teammates Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro were safely inside the top ten, which was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and top ‘Open’ rider Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar) – the Japanese competitor crossing the line 0.073s in front of colleague Nicky Hayden.

Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) was 15th after an early crash, whilst there was another DNF for Alvaro Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) who crashed on the first lap, as did Danilo Petrucci (IodaRacing Project).

1. Marc MARQUEZ - Honda - 75 poin
2. Dani PEDROSA - Honda - 56 poin
3. Valentino ROSSI - Yamaha - 41 poin
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - Ducati - 34 poin
5. Andrea IANNONE - Ducati - 25 poin
6. Stefan BRADL - Honda - 24 poin
7. Jorge LORENZO - Yamaha - 22 poin
8. Aleix ESPARGARO - Forward Yamaha - 21 poin
9. Bradley SMITH - Yamaha - 20 poin
10. Pol ESPARGARO - Yamaha - 18 poin
11. Nicky HAYDEN - Honda - 18 poin
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA - Honda - 15 poin
13. Scott REDDING - Honda - 11 poin
14. Yonny HERNANDEZ - Ducati - 11 poin
15. Cal CRUTCHLOW - Ducati - 10 poin
16. Karel ABRAHAM - Honda - 8 poin
17. Colin EDWARDS - Forward Yamaha - 7 poin
18. Danilo PETRUCCI - ART - 2 poin
19. Hector BARBERA - Avintia - 1 poin
20. Broc PARKES - PBM - 1 poin

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