HONDA RACING INFORMATION 2014 FIM MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3 World Championships Round 10 of 18, Indianapolis GP, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Race Report: Sunday, 10 August, 2014 Weather: Dry Temperature: Air 29 degrees C / Track 46 degrees C MARQUEZ TAKES PERFECT TEN OUT OF TEN FOR HONDA Honda’s defending World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) powered to a tenth victory in ten races at the Indianapolis Grand Prix today, preserving his perfect 2014 record from yet another pole position, adding a new lap record, and extending his title lead still further in a landmark start to the second half of the season. Hondas triumphed also in the other two MotoGP classes, adding a hard-fought Moto3 win to the inevitable victory in the all-Honda Moto2 class. A crowd of more than 80,000, dwarfed by the massive 250,000-capacity grandstands of the historic Indianapolis banked oval circuit, were treated to a thrilling spectacle in the MotoGP race, with four riders changing places sometimes several times in the same lap. Marquez waited until the 11th lap of the 27 lap-race round the MotoGP-dedicated infield circuit at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway to stamp his authority on the race, after several skirmishes with his closest rivals in a hard-fought first ten laps. Having regained the lead, and now confident that earlier front-tyre concerns were also behind him, Marquez drew away steadily to claim win number ten in a year he is making his own by 1.8 seconds. It was the former 125cc and Moto2 World Champion’s fourth successive win at the Indy track: last year in MotoGP, and the previous two in Moto2. He is the first rider to win ten consecutive races since a previous Honda serial champion Mick Doohan, in 1997. Having already broken every “youngest-ever” record in his maiden championship season last year, he is drawing closer to the target of becoming also the second-youngest champion, displacing previous holder Freddie Spencer (Honda) to third. To do so, he needs to win the 2014 title before the end of the season … with a massive advantage of 89 points, the achievement is looking increasingly likely. With the Yamaha pair of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fading in second and third; second Repsol Honda RC213V rider Dani Pedrosa made the most of a difficult weekend to come through to fourth, having earlier been running in sixth. The former 125cc and double 250cc World Champion had qualified eighth, but gained pace and positions as the race wore on. Pedrosa holds second overall in the title standings. Although yet to win a race this season, this was his first time off the top-three podium in the last four races. Two more riders campaign the awesomely successful Honda RC213V in satellite teams, but both were out of luck at Indy. Former Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V), who had topped the time sheets in free practice, was running strongly in a small group disputing eighth place when he crashed out; former 125cc champion Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Gresini Honda RC213V) had bounced back from a heavy crash in free practice only to be taken out on the first lap of the race in another collision. GO&FUN Gresini Honda team-mate Scott Redding, who rides one of four new production-racer Honda RCV1000R machines, made up for the team’s disappointment with a sterling performance throughout the entire weekend. The youngest-ever GP winner made it through to the elite Q2 qualifying for the first time, and spent the race in close combat with factory rider Cal Crutchlow (Ducati), finishing ninth, still less than a second away. Two more production-racer Honda riders took the next two positions. Former 250cc champion Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) was a lone tenth; while Czech racer Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) won a race-long battle for 11th from Mike de Meglio (Avintia). The fourth was ridden by British former 125cc GP and World Superbike racer Leon Camier, taking the place of the recuperating Nicky Hayden on the second Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R. Camier made an impressive MotoGP debut in his first visit to Indianapolis, qualifying 16th and racing in the points, before losing his chances by pitting briefly to settle a technical issue, and subsequently retiring. The Moto2 class is exclusively powered by Honda, with identical race-tuned Honda CBR600 engines supplied by the organisers to ensure reliable and closely matched racing. The middle class had two starts at Indy, with the first one red-flagged after a crash on only the fourth lap; and the restart run over a shortened 16 laps. Both times pole qualifier Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) grabbed an instant lead, and the Finnish rider was able to preserve it to the finish. The battle for the other podium places was hard fought. Reigning Moto3 World Champion, Maverick Vinales (Paginas Amarillas Kalex), finished in second place, for the third race in a row, taking the position from series leader Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) on the 14th lap. Vinales has also tasted victory, in this his rookie season in the Moto2 class, at the second round, also in held in the United States. Rabat’s agony was not over, for German GP winner Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert Suter) followed the young Spaniard past to claim third, his fourth podium of the season. Italian veteran Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing Kalex) finally lost touch with the leading quartet for a solid fifth place. A large and lively battle for sixth some way behind eventually went to former Moto3 champion Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex) by less than half a second from rising Malaysian star Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex). A similar distance separated those behind, with sixth to eleventh crossing the yard of bricks within less than 1.4 seconds. Alex de Angelis (Tasca Racing Moto2 Suter) was eighth, then Anthony West (QMMF Speed Up), Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Caterham Suter) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex). The result opened up the Moto2 championship battle: with Kallio’s third win closing him to within seven points of early runaway leader Rabat; and Vinales closing his deficit from 50 points to 43. In Moto3, Honda faces rival manufacturers. The first race of the day was a class trade-mark epic battle, won at the last gasp by Honda’s Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG Honda), swooping past second-placed Romano Fenati’s KTM over the line on a wave of Honda horsepower. It was the 27-year-old veteran’s first win, after claiming a first rostrum earlier this season after returning to Honda – and a fine honeymoon achievement for the newlywed Spaniard. There was still a gang of ten disputing the race at the last of 23 laps, the top ten places covered by less than 2.3 seconds, with three more of the six-strong Honda gang among them. Points leader Jack Miller (KTM) was third, then came Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda), Alex Rins and Alex Marquez (both Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda), blocking out fourth to sixth. Masbou had ridden a spectacular race through the field from 31st place after getting pushed off on the first lap, and at one point held the lead for three laps. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Ongetta AirAsia Honda) finished in the points, 15th. Second SaxoPrint-RTG Honda rider John McPhee had qualified seventh, but was victim of a collision in the first corners, and unable to continue. Vazquez’s long-awaited win moved him to second overall, 21 points behind Miller, and four ahead of previous second-placed Marquez. The next race is the Czech Republic GP at Brno, in one week, as the intensive second half of the season gets under way. Honda MotoGP rider quotes Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 1st “I am really happy to have taken this win. After the summer break it was important to start with another victory. Yesterday it seemed like it may be a straightforward race, but it ended up being quite the opposite. We suffered a lot and physically it was hard, there was a lot of humidity and I was sweating a lot. The track temperature rose by 10 degrees today and this made the tyres behave differently. It was hard for me to have the same level of confidence. I was patient at the beginning and when I regained the good feeling I had in practice I decided to push, opening that two-second gap which in the end was enough for the win.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th “Overall it has been a difficult weekend in which at no point did I feel good on the bike. We couldn’t find a good set-up in practice. Then in the race, although I was able to move up a few places, I was always off the pace if I was going to fight for the podium.” Scott Redding, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 9th “I’ve been strong all weekend and I’m happy to be in the parc fermé for the first time as top Open finisher. Obviously Aleix Espargaro was forced to retire, so it’s not the best way to do it, but for me the important thing was to be the leading production-racer Honda and we made it again. At the beginning of the race Aoyama was able to stay just one second behind, because I was fighting with Crutchlow so it was not easy to make a gap, but suddenly I was able to streak away from Hiroshi and then it was nice to fight with Cal, even if he could pass me back every time on the straight. I think we made a good job and I would like to thank all the guys of the team for that. It’s a great way to come back from the summer break: we came back stronger and also more comfortable with the bike and now we look forward to the next races.” Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive M7 Aspar Honda: 10th “This weekend we were at a circuit with a new surface, which gave us many problems in terms of tyre choice. We left it until the last moment before the race to make a decision, and in the end we opted for the harder compounds -and I think we made completely the right choice. Our qualifying session was quite difficult, and we started from far back on the grid, but I felt comfortable for the first time and was able to keep up a very consistent pace. However, eventually the tyre performance dropped a lot and I made a couple of mistakes. Fortunately I was able to finish the race in tenth position. To start from 18th and place tenth is positive. I would have liked to have finished as the best rider in the Open class, but today Scott was very fast.” Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing Honda: 11th “I’ve been struggling all weekend, but today was a bit better than yesterday. I still had grip problems with both the front and the rear, so into the corners it was closing the front and locking the rear, so it was quite dangerous. I had to take care. Then after seven or eight laps there was a drop in the tyres and some riders crashed. Although this was my best result, it was not an easy race.” Alvaro Bautista, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: DNF “There’s not much to say, it’s been a very difficult weekend for us, with many rear grip issues, and today I knew that it would be more risky than usual starting from the back of the grid. When I was entering Turn 4, I was keeping my line when suddenly Hernandez hit me from the outside and I couldn’t save the crash. Obviously it’s been a bad weekend, but we have to stay positive because it could have been worse: in fact, luckily I’m fine despite the big crash I had Saturday morning. Now we need to forget this race and try to head to Brno full of motivation.” Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: DNF “Disappointing Sunday for us. My start was so-so, pretty similar to the others. I was in the same group of Aleix and Pol Espargaro and I could see that my pace was faster in some areas but Aleix had some advantage in some corners, so we raced with the same pace. At the end of the straight I tried to attack him but we were on the same line and he released the brake a little bit closing my corner space. I hit him in the back and we both crashed: it was a racing accident that can happen to anybody.” Leon Camier, Drive M7 Aspar Honda: DNF “Today we were unable to finish the race due to an electronic problem. Right at the start of the race I noticed that something was wrong, but I continued pushing hard; I just wanted to ride, have fun and try to finish as best I could. As the laps went by the problem increased and I was forced to return to the garage. It was a shame to conclude the weekend like this, because we had done a great job. In any case I am satisfied, because this experience has been terrific and I have learned many new things. I learned the most during the race, and found what we need to do to improve. I like the chassis and this bike suits my riding style, so I am sure I can go faster with it; hopefully at Brno we have the chance. I want to thank the team for giving me so much to learn from this weekend. I am pleased that we have continued to progress throughout the weekend and, despite the setbacks, our race pace was quite positive.” Moto2 Rider quotes Mika Kallio, Marc VDS Racing Team: 1st “The first two laps of the first race were incredible and I felt immediately really confident and fast on fresh tyres. For the second race we decided to keep the same tyres and I didn’t have the same good feeling. I still managed to open up a gap but I was pushing on the limit and the gap to second remained the same, so it was impossible for me to pull away. I just concentrated on keeping the gap to just over a second. It is a great feeling to win from pole position and be in control of the race from start to finish. It is a big result for the championship and now we go to Brno, where I won last year, with a lot of confidence.” Maverick Vinales, Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Team: 2nd “In the first laps, Rabat was really strong, and I was only able to follow him. Then I started to feel more comfortable and confident. The race was shorter than usual because of the red flag, and I decided it was time to attack. I was able to pass Rabat, but Kallio was a little bit too far away.” Dominique Aegerter, Technomag carXpert: 3rd “All weekend I was quite strong and constant, and I was on the front row. In the first race we used the harder tyre, but when Kallio started so fast and made a big gap I tried to follow and had three or four big moments before the red flag. For the second race I decided to use the softer option rear, but it was not so easy. I fought with Vinales and Rabat, and in the end I was able to overtake Rabat for the podium again.” Honda Moto3 Rider quotes Efren Vazquez, SaxoPrint RTG Team: 1st “I worked really hard in the summertime to be in my best physical condition, and tried also to concentrate to get the best mental power for the second part of the season. This weekend we touched nothing on the bike, not even settings, and I just concentrated on my riding, giving 100 percent in every session. It was a hard race for me and the other riders, but finally I took my first victory.” Alexis Masbou, Ongetta Rivacold Honda: 4th “It was a difficult weekend, with bad weather in free practice, then I had a crash in qualifying, so we had no time to work on settings. We found something in morning warm-up, went a little bit further with it for the race, and I was confident. I wasn’t sliding very much, but my bike was faster than the others. I got pushed off on the first lap, and I was very far behind. But last year in Valencia I started from the pit box and was sixth, so I said: ‘Okay, I will try to push’. I got to the front, but in the last three laps it was very hard to find a place, there were so many bikes, so I missed the podium. But I am happy all the same.” Alex Rins, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Team: 5th “I’m happy, but obviously I would like to have finished higher up the order. After how the weekend went, this is not a bad result and I have to thank the team; they helped me a lot and I was able to get up into the front group. I started from far back, but I started well. I even thought that perhaps I had jumped the start. It wasn’t too hard to get to the front group and from that moment on I started to think about where I could overtake and where I needed to wait. In the end I was a bit hasty, passing Miller on the fast corner of the final lap. He passed me back and I couldn’t retake the position. I’m happy with the end result, because in this category and when you are part of a group like that, you can just as easily win as finish tenth.” RESULTS MOTOGP RACE: (27 laps = 112.59 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 4207.041 / 160.3 / 2 / Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / YAMAHA / 4208.844 / 160.2 / 1.803 3 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / YAMAHA / 4213.599 / 159.9 / 6.558 4 / Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / HONDA / 4217.057 / 159.7 / 10.016 5 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 4224.848 / 159.2 / 17.807 6 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 4226.645 / 159.1 / 19.604 7 / Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA / Ducati Team / DUCATI / 4227.800 / 159.0 / 20.759 8 / Cal CRUTCHLOW / GBR / Ducati Team / DUCATI / 4246.837 / 157.9 / 39.796 9 / Scott REDDING / GBR / GO&FUN Honda Gresini / HONDA / 4247.548 / 157.8 / 40.507 10 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Drive M7 Aspar / HONDA / 4302.801 / 156.9 / 55.760 11 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / HONDA / 4312.171 / 156.3 / 105.130 12 / Mike DI MEGLIO / FRA / Avintia Racing / AVINTIA / 4312.387 / 156.3 / 105.346 13 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / NGM Forward Racing / FORWARD YAMAHA / 4315.960 / 156.1 / 108.919 14 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Paul Bird Motorsport / PBM / 4316.244 / 156.1 / 109.203 15 / Broc PARKES / AUS / Paul Bird Motorsport / PBM / 4337.654 / 154.8 / 130.613 Pole Position: Marc MARQUEZ 131.619 163.8 Km/h Fastest Lap (New record): Marc MARQUEZ 132.831 161.7 Km/h Lap 17 Old Circuit Record Lap: New circuit Circuit Best Lap: Marc MARQUEZ 131.619 163.8 Km/h 2014 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 MARQUEZ 250, 2 PEDROSA 161, 3 ROSSI 157, 4 LORENZO 117, 5 DOVIZIOSO 108, 6 ESPARGARO 78, 7 ESPARGARO 77, 8 IANNONE 62, 9 SMITH 58, 10 BRADL 56, 11 BAUTISTA 50, 12 REDDING 40, 13 CRUTCHLOW 36, 14 AOYAMA 34, 15 HAYDEN 29, 16 HERNANDEZ 27, 17 ABRAHAM 23, 18 EDWARDS 11, 19 PIRRO 7, 20 PARKES 7. MOTO2 RACE: (16 laps = 66.72 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Mika KALLIO / FIN / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX / 2607.410 / 153.2 / 2 / Maverick VIÑALES / SPA / Paginas Amarillas HP 40 / KALEX / 2608.790 / 153.1 / 1.380 3 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Technomag carXpert / SUTER / 2609.106 / 153.0 / 1.696 4 / Esteve RABAT / SPA / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX / 2609.969 / 152.9 / 2.559 5 / Simone CORSI / ITA / NGM Forward Racing / KALEX / 2614.058 / 152.5 / 6.648 6 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Dynavolt Intact GP / KALEX / 2626.049 / 151.4 / 18.639 7 / Hafizh SYAHRIN / MAL / Petronas Raceline Malaysia / KALEX / 2626.084 / 151.4 / 18.674 8 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM / Tasca Racing Moto2 / SUTER / 2626.402 / 151.4 / 18.992 9 / Anthony WEST / AUS / QMMF Racing Team / SPEED UP / 2626.897 / 151.3 / 19.487 10 / Johann ZARCO / FRA / AirAsia Caterham / CATERHAM SUTER / 2627.332 / 151.3 / 19.922 11 / Takaaki NAKAGAMI / JPN / IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia / KALEX / 2627.423 / 151.3 / 20.013 12 / Jordi TORRES / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 / SUTER / 2628.373 / 151.2 / 20.963 13 / Louis ROSSI / FRA / SAG Team / KALEX / 2630.082 / 151.0 / 22.672 14 / Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / Tech 3 / TECH 3 / 2631.246 / 150.9 / 23.836 15 / Ricard CARDUS / SPA / Tech 3 / TECH 3 / 2632.735 / 150.8 / 25.325 16 / Axel PONS / SPA / AGR Team / KALEX / 2632.924 / 150.7 / 25.514 17 / Lorenzo BALDASSARRI / ITA / Gresini Moto2 / SUTER / 2636.390 / 150.4 / 28.980 18 / Jonas FOLGER / GER / AGR Team / KALEX / 2640.372 / 150.0 / 32.962 19 / Roman RAMOS / SPA / QMMF Racing Team / SPEED UP / 2643.974 / 149.7 / 36.564 20 / Azlan SHAH / MAL / IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia / KALEX / 2644.317 / 149.7 / 36.907 Pole Position: Mika KALLIO 136.883 154.9 Km/h Fastest Lap (New record): Mika KALLIO 137.275 154.3 Km/h Lap 13 Old Circuit Record Lap: New circuit Circuit Best Lap: Mika KALLIO 136.883 154.9 Km/h 2014 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 RABAT 183, 2 KALLIO 176, 3 VIÑALES 140, 4 AEGERTER 112, 5 CORSI 96, 6 LUTHI 68, 7 WEST 65, 8 SALOM 62, 9 ZARCO 52, 10 FOLGER 47, 11 CORTESE 42, 12 SCHROTTER 38, 13 SIMEON 37, 14 DE ANGELIS 37, 15 LOWES 33, 16 CARDUS 28, 17 TORRES 27, 18 MORBIDELLI 25, 19 PASINI 22, 20 KRUMMENACHER 19. MOTO3 RACE: (23 laps = 95.91 Km) POS / RIDER / NAT. / TEAM / MOTORCYCLE / TIME / KM/H / GAP 1 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / SaxoPrint-RTG / HONDA / 3912.977 / 146.7 / 2 / Romano FENATI / ITA / SKY Racing Team VR46 / KTM / 3913.042 / 146.7 / 0.065 3 / Jack MILLER / AUS / Red Bull KTM Ajo / KTM / 3913.196 / 146.7 / 0.219 4 / Alexis MASBOU / FRA / Ongetta-Rivacold / HONDA / 3913.349 / 146.7 / 0.372 5 / Alex RINS / SPA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 / HONDA / 3913.696 / 146.6 / 0.719 6 / Alex MARQUEZ / SPA / Estrella Galicia 0,0 / HONDA / 3913.990 / 146.6 / 1.013 7 / Miguel OLIVEIRA / POR / Mahindra Racing / MAHINDRA / 3914.287 / 146.6 / 1.310 8 / Juanfran GUEVARA / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 / KALEX KTM / 3914.872 / 146.6 / 1.895 9 / Brad BINDER / RSA / Ambrogio Racing / MAHINDRA / 3915.014 / 146.6 / 2.037 10 / Jakub KORNFEIL / CZE / Calvo Team / KTM / 3915.238 / 146.5 / 2.261 11 / Enea BASTIANINI / ITA / Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3 / KTM / 3916.409 / 146.5 / 3.432 12 / Danny KENT / GBR / Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo / HUSQVARNA / 3917.416 / 146.4 / 4.439 13 / Karel HANIKA / CZE / Red Bull KTM Ajo / KTM / 3922.575 / 146.1 / 9.598 14 / Jorge NAVARRO / SPA / Marc VDS Racing Team / KALEX KTM / 3922.657 / 146.1 / 9.680 15 / Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN / MAL / Ongetta-AirAsia / HONDA / 3929.376 / 145.7 / 16.399 16 / Jules DANILO / FRA / Ambrogio Racing / MAHINDRA / 3929.408 / 145.7 / 16.431 17 / Isaac VIÑALES / SPA / Calvo Team / KTM / 3929.582 / 145.7 / 16.605 18 / Niccolò ANTONELLI / ITA / Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3 / KTM / 3929.638 / 145.7 / 16.661 19 / Luca GRÜNWALD / GER / Kiefer Racing / KALEX KTM / 3933.768 / 145.4 / 20.791 20 / Philipp OETTL / GER / Interwetten Paddock Moto3 / KALEX KTM / 3934.000 / 145.4 / 21.023 Pole Position: Jack MILLER 140.727 149.0 Km/h Fastest Lap (New record): Alex RINS 140.800 148.9 Km/h Lap 3 Old Circuit Record Lap: New circuit Circuit Best Lap: Jack MILLER 140.727 149.0 Km/h 2014 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TILL DATE: 1 MILLER 158, 2 VAZQUEZ 137, 3 MARQUEZ 133, 4 FENATI 130, 5 RINS 118, 6 MASBOU 92, 7 VIÑALES 90, 8 OLIVEIRA 62, 9 BINDER 56, 10 KORNFEIL 54, 11 BASTIANINI 51, 12 KENT 50, 13 MCPHEE 45, 14 BAGNAIA 42, 15 AJO 35, 16 GUEVARA 31, 17 HANIKA 19, 18 ANTONELLI 18, 19 LOI 17, 20 TONUCCI 15. NEXT EVENT: ROUND11, AUG 17, BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 06:59:04 +0000
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