After spending most of the race on Jorge Lorenzo’s back tire, Honda’s Marc Marquez managed to pull ahead in the final minutes of the Indianapolis GP to remain undefeated in American MotoGP starts.
The MotoGP standings are now close enough that a difference of one place across the finish line could make or break a winner.
Today at the Brickyard, the pressure was on Valentino Rossi, after a terrible performance in qualifying and an eight-place start. His Yamaha factory teammate Jorge Lorenzo led for much of the race, while Rossi battled with Honda factory rider Dani Pedrosa for third. For much of the race, it looked as if Lorenzo would win and Rossi would earn fourth, leaving the Doctor only a single point ahead of his teammate.
But it didn’t go down that way. Marquez got past Lorenzo on Lap 25, and Rossi got past Pedrosa two laps later, leaving the Yamaha riders to finish 2-3, mitigating the damage to Rossi’s grip on the standings.
Lorenzo rocketed past pole-positioned Marquez on the warmup lap, leaving commenters wondering if he’d forgotten it wasn’t a race start. But he repeated the performance on Turn 1, Lap 1, so whatever game he was playing worked. He was unpassed until Lap 25.
This is Marquez’s seventh straight GP win on American soil and his second in a row. While he’s still 56 points down on Rossi, he proved he can’t be counted out. His switch the chassis used in 2014 seems to have been key to his renewed efforts.
Along with the tension over his lead in the standings, there was an element of personal pride spurring Rossi on past Pedrosa; Rossi hasn’t finished off the podium yet this year, and he’s kept that streak alive. Not bad for a rider all the critics wrote off during his time at Ducati.
Speaking of Ducati, Andrea Iannone finished in fifth; he’s lost his third-place spot in the standings to Marc Marquez, but there’s still no denying the remarkable turnaround of the Ducati team’s fortunes.
On the LCR Hondas, Cal Crutchlow dueled with Pol Espargaro (Tech 3 Yamaha) for seventh, but eventually was subdued to eighth, while Jack Miller crashed out — more bad luck for the rookie Aussie. It had been an interesting second row on the starting grid, with Crutchlow starting in fourth, Danilo Petrruci (Pramac Ducati) in fifth and Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) in sixth, behind Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo respectively. Unfortunately for the satellite bikes, none of the riders were able to threaten the podium.
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 161.1 | 41’55.371 |
2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 161.0 | +0.688 |
3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 160.7 | +5.966 |
4 | 13 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 160.7 | +6.147 |
5 | 11 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 159.7 | +21.528 |
6 | 10 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 159.7 | +21.751 |
7 | 9 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 159.2 | +30.378 |
8 | 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 159.1 | +31.607 |
9 | 7 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 159.0 | +32.821 |
10 | 6 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 158.9 | +34.517 |
11 | 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 158.6 | +39.010 |
12 | 4 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 158.5 | +41.815 |
13 | 3 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 157.9 | +50.209 |
14 | 2 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 157.3 | +1’00.465 |
15 | 1 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 157.1 | +1’04.147 |
16 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 157.0 | +1’05.066 | |
17 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 156.9 | +1’06.941 | |
18 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 156.5 | +1’13.862 | |
19 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | 156.2 | +1’18.706 | |
20 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 156.1 | +1’19.730 | |
21 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | E-Motion IodaRacing Team | ART | 156.1 | +1’19.882 | |
22 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | AB Motoracing | Honda | 156.1 | +1’19.934 | |
Not Classified | ||||||||
43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 156.8 | 20 Laps |
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 195 |
2 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 186 |
3 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 139 |
4 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | ITA | 129 |
5 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 97 |
6 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 94 |
7 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 80 |
8 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | GBR | 74 |
9 | Pol ESPARGARO | Yamaha | SPA | 73 |
10 | Maverick VIÑALES | Suzuki | SPA | 62 |
11 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | ITA | 57 |
12 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Suzuki | SPA | 46 |
13 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | COL | 36 |
14 | Scott REDDING | Honda | GBR | 33 |
15 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 20 |
16 | Loris BAZ | Yamaha Forward | FRA | 14 |
17 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia | SPA | 13 |
18 | Jack MILLER | Honda | AUS | 12 |
19 | Stefan BRADL | Yamaha Forward | GER | 9 |
20 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 8 |
21 | Nicky HAYDEN | Honda | USA | 8 |
22 | Eugene LAVERTY | Honda | IRL | 7 |
23 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Honda | JPN | 5 |
24 | Mike DI MEGLIO | Ducati | FRA | 2 |
25 | Alex DE ANGELIS | ART | RSM | 1 |