Standings Motogp Qatar 2014

 

Doha, Sunday, March 23, 2014

Marc Marquez won a thrilling, 13-lap battle with Valentino Rossi to take the first race of the 2014 MotoGP Season at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.  Rossi, who started 10th on the grid, took second after a charge through the field and several late-race lead swaps with the eventual winner.

Dani Pedrosa took third after a multi-lap fight with Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista was one of several solo crashers including former world champion Jorge Lorenzo who low-sided at turn 15 while leading the first lap. Bradley Smith crashed out while in a comfortable in fifth late in the race. Stefan Bradl dumped his Honda on turn six while leading eight laps into the race with Marquez and Rossi on his tail.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	166.4	42'40.561
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	166.3	+0.259
3	16	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	166.1	+3.370
4	13	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	165.6	+11.623
5	11	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.6	+12.159
6	10	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Ducati Team	Ducati	164.5	+28.526
7	9	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	164.3	+32.593
8	8	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	164.3	+32.628
9	7	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	163.8	+39.547
10	6	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	163.6	+43.360
11	5	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	163.4	+46.595
12	4	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Energy T.I. Pramac Racing	Ducati	163.4	+46.688
13	3	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Honda	163.1	+50.581
14	2	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	IodaRacing Project	ART	162.4	+1'03.127
15	1	23	Broc PARKES	AUS	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	161.7	+1'14.386
16		70	Michael LAVERTY	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	160.5	+1'32.593
17		63	Mike DI MEGLIO	FRA	Avintia Racing	Avintia	160.3	+1'36.085
Not Classified
		19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	166.2	2 Laps
		38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	166.1	4 Laps
		44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	165.0	5 Laps
		6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	165.6	14 Laps
		8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Avintia	160.7	18 Laps
		99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		0 Lap

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Marc Marquez Wins Motogp Qatar 2014

 

Marquez overcomes Rossi to Take Qatar Win

Repsol Honda’s 21 year-old rider produced a gritty performance to take maximum points despite breaking his leg in preseason and missing the last two MotoGP tests.

In further drama Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of the race lead at turn 15 on the first lap, meaning his season starts with a DNF after he had struggled with grip issues throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile, after eight laps the race was over for Stefan Bradl who had led the contest for several circulations. Coming from seventh on the grid and taking advantage of Lorenzo’s crash and some errors ahead of him Bradl was writing headlines for LCR Honda but perhaps the pressure of Marc Marquezand Valentino Rossi on his shoulder was too much as the German slid off track.

Indeed, Marquez and Rossi then went on to have a great fight which went down to the last lap and saw the Spaniard outpace the Italian by 0.25s – with Pedrosa three seconds back to complete the podium.

An excellent ride for Aleix Espargaro saw him take fourth on his debut for NGM Forward Racing on their ‘Open’ Yamaha. Espargaro cashed in on crashes for Alvaro Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) as they fell out of the podium hunt.

Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow did well in fifth and sixth respectively for Ducati Team, though Crutchlow finished 16 seconds behind his teammate after almost running out of fuel on his debut for the Italian factory.

A good first premier class race for Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) saw him beat fellow ‘Open’ Honda equipped rider Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) to seventh by a 0.035s margin.

The top ten was rounded out by Hayden’s compatriot Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), riding his first race as a 40 year-old, and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) who recovered well from a fall on the last corner of lap two.

A mistake from rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) with five laps to go saw him drop down to 15th and then pull into pits shortly after.

The riders will reconvene for the next race at the Circuit Of The Americas in three weeks’ time.

MARQUEZ M.Repsol Honda TeamLap 22

ROSSI V.Movistar Yamaha MotoGP+0.259

PEDROSA D.Repsol Honda Team+3.370

ESPARGARO A.NGM Forward Racing+11.623

DOVIZIOSO A.Ducati Team+12.159

CRUTCHLOW C.Ducati Team+28.526

REDDING S.GO&FUN Honda Gresini+32.593

HAYDEN N.Drive M7 Aspar+32.628

EDWARDS C.NGM Forward Racing+39.547

IANNONE A.Pramac Racing+43.360

AOYAMA H.Drive M7 Aspar+46.595

HERNANDEZ Y.Energy T.I. Pramac Racing+46.688

ABRAHAM K.Cardion AB Motoracing+50.581

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Marc Marquez Grand Prix of Qatar 2014

 

Opening For Day Grand Prix Of Qatar 2014

Marc Marquez who climbed back aboard his RC213V for the first time in 6 weeks after breaking his leg, chose not to have any painkillers and managed an impressive 15 laps. He finished 11th for the night with a time of 1’56.682, 1.5s off the pace but knowing that he can improve over the weekend.

Marquez was upbeat as ever, "I am fairly happy with how the first session went, because I haven't been on the bike in a while. I didn’t think my foot would bother me so much - especially on the right hand corners - although at the end of the session I felt better and this gives me hope of improving tomorrow.

He continued, “We are going to try to follow the same working strategy as today. In terms of the times, we aren't too far off Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Dani - and it's normal that the riders who were here for the test a fortnight ago are fast right from the get-go.

His teammate Pedrosa struggled with grip, despite being top factory bike, saying, "We had a few problems today with grip, which is something that some of the riders who rode here at the test two weeks ago had commented about before. 

There isn’t much grip on the track and that means we have to try to get the most out of the bike under these circumstances. We’ll see if the track improves with a little more rubber laid down, giving us more traction.”

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Valentino Rossi

 

Rossi Upbeat Over Bridgestone Progress

On Tuesday, the second of three days of this week’s test, Valentino Rossi focused more on comparing various tyres of rubber en route to fourth position on the timesheet.

"We worked very much today," explained the five-time Phillip Island premier class race winner. "I did two half simulations with two different tyres and for me personally today we worked more on different types of rubber.

"I had more problems with the first one, but was faster with the second and the feeling with the tyre after 14 laps was not so bad – so I think we found something good. I think Bridgestone can now collect good information from all of the riders to arrive at a decision for one very good tyre for October."

It was Yamaha Factory Racing team-mate Jorge Lorenzo who continued to lead the way, pleased with the initial consistency as he attempted a race simulation.

"Today we had the opportunity to try a new tyre: the tyre that Valentino tried yesterday," the Mallorcan began. "Two of them were cancelled for us today because Valentino rejected them yesterday, so most of the time we just tried the standard one from last year and finally the big one on the last run.

"I did a 14-lap simulation, but decided to stop. It started very well, with lap times of 29.6 and 29.5, but there was suddenly a big drop (in tyre performance) so I decided to stop. It was not the right tyre. Hopefully, tomorrow it is not going to rain, so we will have the opportunity to see which tyre is the best for the next race here."

Testing continues on Wednesday from 9:30am local time (GMT +11), with this year’s Australian Grand Prix taking place on Sunday 19 October.

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