Posted on 1st June 2014
Marquez Downs Lorenzo at Mugello
Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez stretched his winning run to six races with victory at the Italian Grand Prix, after a fierce battle with Jorge Lorenzo.
Starting from his sixth pole position of the season, Marquez had to fight the toughest battle of his season so far. A rejuvenated Jorge Lorenzo battled with his compatriot for numerous laps but in the end lost out by 0.121 seconds to the World Champion.
Marquez is now 53 points ahead of his nearest championship challenger. Meaning the Honda rider has more than two wins worth in hand as he continues his quest for back to back world titles.
The result makes up for the twelve months ago when battling for the lead Marquez fell out of second place, which is the only crash of his short top class career.
It was another historic day for Valentino Rossi, who reached the landmark 300th Grand Prix in front of his adoring fans. And he put on a show racing from tenth place on the grid to finish just under three seconds behind the battling Spaniards.
However, the front three were in a class of their own with fourth and fifth placed Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro over ten second behind the third placed Yamaha.
It was not a good day for Britain's leading riders with Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow crashing out. Smith's crash on lap four ended Smith's four race finishing run, while it was Crutchlow's third retirement of a testing first season at Ducati.
MotoGPâ„¢ Race Classification
1. Marc Marquez Honda 41’38.254
2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 0.121
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha +2.688
4. Dani Pedrosa
5. Pol Espargaro
6. Andrea Dovizioso
7. Andrea Iannone
8. Alvaro Bautista
9. Aleix Espargaro
10. Yonny Hernandez
1st OPEN
9- Aleix Espargaro SPA Forward Yamaha +41.886
Moto2â„¢: Calculated ride gives Rabat Italian win
Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) got his tactics just right at Mugello, winning the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM Moto2â„¢ race by 0.248s from Luis Salom (Pons HP 40), with Jonas Folger (AGR Team) crossing the line third.
Rabat produced his best lap of the race on his penultimate circulation having come from third position at two-thirds race distance, to overtake his less experienced rivals. The championship leader extended his standings lead to 22 points with his third victory of 2014, further underlining his World title credentials.
Rookies Salom and Folger both produced excellent rides, each leading the race before Rabat took control.
An intriguing battle for fourth place in the final stages saw Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) outpace Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) by just 0.007s, with Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) finishing just behind that pair.
Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing), Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) and Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) all featured in the top ten.
Josh Herrin (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) crashed out early on,
Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) also slid out mid race, with Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) another non-finisher due to an incident which also involved Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) – though the Japanese rider stayed upright to eventually finish 16th.
Moto2â„¢ Race Classification
1- Tito Rabat SPA Kalex 39’45.660
2- Luis Salom SPA Kalex +0.248
3- Jonas Folger GER Kalex +3.600
Moto3â„¢: Victory for Fenati in Mugello sunshine
Another fantastic Moto3â„¢ race concluded with victory for Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM, with Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team) and Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) joining him on the podium.
The talented Italian teenager held his nerve to win his home race whilst sporting a special red, white and green Italian livery, clinching maximum points by just 0.01s from Viñales, who himself beat Rins by virtue of a faster best lap as they crossed the line together.
A last lap crash between championship leader Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3) saw them all miss out on the points, with Miller therefore seeing his standings advantage cut to just five points.
The top five also featured Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing) and Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo), as they both crossed the line within 0.3s of race winner Fenati.
Going into the final laps, before Miller, Marquez and Bastianini crashed out, there were 13 riders split by just 1.5s, with Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold), Alessandro Tonucci (CIP Mahindra), Juanfran Guevara (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3), Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing) and Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) eventually completing the top ten.
Hafiq Azmi, John McPhee and Niccolo Antonelli all crashed out, with Jakub Kornfeil getting tangled up in Antonelli’s accident and later retiring due to a technical problem. Francesco Bagnaia also pulled off with a technical issue midrace, whilst Bryan Schouten finished 21st after starting from pit lane due to problems on the line.
Efren Vazquez recovered well to finish 12th after jump starting and having to ride through pit lane as a penalty.
Moto3â„¢ Race Classification
1- Romano Fenati ITA KTM 39’46.256
2- Isaac Viñales SPA KTM +0.010
3- Alex Rins SPA Honda +0.011
Photos courtesy of motogp.com
Mugello courtesy of grahamandleigh.co.uk
