Marquez Increases Title Lead with Thrilling Second Place

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) increased his World Championship lead with a never-say-give-up ride to second place in today’s Austrian Grand Prix at the sun-blessed Red Bull Ring.

The hard-riding 24-year-old Spaniard and race-winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) spent much of the race fighting over every millimeter of the mountainside circuit, each of them finding an advantage in one corner only to lose it in another. The final few laps were breath-taking, with the pair separated by mere tenths of a second, Marquez’s tire choice spoiled somewhat by today’s warmer track conditions.

The finish was the best of the year so far: Dovizioso led by a meter or two into the final double right, only for Marquez to try a fearless move around the outside. He was ahead for a moment but Dovizioso had the better line through the final corner. But still Marquez didn’t give up; he was so hard on the throttle accelerating onto the final straight that he had his RC213V sideways on the curb. However, Dovizioso had the best drive and won the sprint to the finish line by just 0.176 seconds.

Pole-starter Marquez was smiling afterwards, having enjoyed the contest, and having increased his championship advantage to 16 points over newly second-overall Dovizioso, whose win took him past today’s sixth-place finisher Maverick Vinales (Yamaha). Three-times MotoGP World Champion Marquez has good reason to be happy – in a season during which many riders are struggling to record consistent results he has so far achieved three race victories and four further podiums.

The Marquez/Dovizioso duel over the final laps was super-thrilling, but Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) deserves similar plaudits for his excellent ride to third place from eighth on the grid. The 31-year-old took time getting heat into his tires, but once confident he charged through the pack and during the final stages of the race caught the leading pair at an astonishing rate. For a while it seemed like he might have enough speed to win the race.

With five laps to go Pedrosa was right with the leaders, but at the crucial moment he ran short of the grip he needed to challenge for victory. At the flag he was just over two seconds behind Marquez to achieve his seventh podium in nine races and give Repsol Honda another double podium, its sixth from the first 11 races, which increases the team’s advantage at the top of the teams championship. Marquez’s second place also makes Honda equal leaders of the constructors’ world championship, alongside Yamaha.

Pedrosa passed Vinales, fellow factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi, independent Yamaha rider Johann Zarco and early leader Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) during his impressive comeback

Today’s MotoGP race was an altogether more complex challenge for Honda’s three independent-team riders. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) had high hopes of racing with the lead pack after qualifying a close ninth fastest. The Briton was run off the track by other riders on several occasions. He was also the only rider to choose Michelin’s hard-compound front, for his aggressive corner-entry style. Thus he had his work cut out to score the final championship point in 15th place.

Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) was inside the points when he slid off with nine laps to go. Team-mate Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) finished 19th.

Grand Prix racing now heads north west to Silverstone in Britain, the country that hosted the first World Championship Grand Prix, on the Isle of Man, in June 1949.

Marc Marquez

“I wouldn’t have slept well tonight if I didn’t try to go for the win in the last corner! But it wasn’t possible. Today Dovi had just a little bit more than us and it was difficult to overtake him. I tried my best all race, really gave it my all, and I lost the rear many times. It was a great battle, and Dovi deserved this victory as he rode very well. We got this second place and it’s good. I’m very happy with these 20 points at this track where I had struggled a lot last year. It’s an important result for the championship. We’re working well; step-by-step, we found a good base that allowed us to be there, and to be consistent in every situation. Today I was able to try that move at the end because I was feeling good with the bike. It will be important to continue like this and to try and be on the podium at every race.”

Dani Pedrosa

“I’m very, very happy with how this weekend turned out and with this podium finish, as we had struggled a lot in the practices, had to go through Q1, and finally qualified just eighth on the grid. But it turned out in the race that I was faster than we were expecting. I still had some issues with the front locking and the rear spinning, but our race strategy worked very well. I wasn’t too aggressive in the beginning; I took my time with a full tank, saving some fuel, and then step-by-step I increased my pace until I closed the gap to the front of the race, also because Marc and Dovi were battling and disturbing each other. Unfortunately, when I caught them I had so much spinning that the rear tire overheated and I had no more grip and drive. I wanted to stay with them and try to fight with them but even though I couldn’t, I’m happy with this podium and proud of my team and of the work we did here.”

Cal Crutchlow

“I think the hard front tire was the right choice for me, even though we had some problems throughout the race, but 15th was a disappointing result. I rode through the pit lane last year, for a jump start, and still finished with more points. We didn’t find a great setting all weekend and the problem was I lost 12 seconds in six laps and that was it. I got run off the track three times and got hindered at the start. Once I was riding alone at the end of the race I felt really good, I had good pace, but we had a problem up until lap 18 as well which didn’t help. But no excuses, I didn’t ride great all weekend either, but I could have finished in the top eight today, I felt. My aim was to finish in the top six, but I was nine places off that so we’ll just have to look forward to the next one and try our best again.”

Tito Rabat

“I am disappointed because even though I knew it would be difficult to get points in the race that was my target. On the first lap I tried to go around Pol Espargaro but he went long because he had no brakes so I lost time and distance to the group and then rode alone to the finish. Now it is important to keep our heads up in this difficult moment and focus on the remaining races.”

Jack Miller

“The race was going really well when I crashed on lap 20. I had really good pace early in the race but then I started to lose some rear grip, it felt like the tire was overheating in the final sector, I had a couple of warnings that I was losing grip into turn nine. Then it stepped out under braking and then overloaded the front and I tried to hold it up on my elbow but to no avail. A disappointing end but I had a strong race until that small mistake. Now I’m looking forward to Silverstone and being in top form.”