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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Grand Prix of Qatar 2014

 

Bridgestone Expecting Rapid Qatar Race Pace 2014

At the final gathering of the pre-season, it was NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro who topped the timesheets to conclude an impressive testing period on the Forward Yamaha. However, Bridgestone was pleased with the pace overall.

“The final pre-season test at Qatar 2014 was very productive,” explains Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer for the Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department. “Both Bridgestone and the teams were able to collect a lot of data which will serve us well for the opening race of the season in a couple of weeks’ time.

“It was encouraging to see how quick the pace was during this test, both over a single lap and during the race simulations, as this track offers comparatively little grip compared to other venues on the calendar. The best lap time from this test was 0.6 seconds faster than the best race time from 2013 and many riders also had good results in their race simulations as well, so overall I am pleased that our 2014-spec tyres worked well here.

“I would like to thank all the teams and riders for their efforts over the two months of pre-season testing; I feel we are very well prepared for the first race of the season.”

This year’s Grand Prix in Qatar 2014 will be the 11th at the desert-based venue, which has featured on the calendar since 2004. It has hosted the season-opener since 2007, which in-turn has taken place under floodlights since 2008.

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