Marquez wins 12th of season at Sepang

The MotoGP™ race at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix was won by MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez in the scorching afternoon heat at Sepang on Sunday, with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo also on the podium.

A huge crowd of more than 80,000 fans witnessed a great MotoGP race with Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) winning for the first time since Silverstone – riding superbly at round 17 and coming from behind after dropping back from pole on the first lap.

Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took the early initiative in the race after a first crash by Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) who lost the front around Turn 15 while in second place. Pedrosa recovered to 11th before suffering a second crash.

Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took the lead at midrace stage as he got in front of Lorenzo and was followed through by Marquez. Two laps later Marquez pushed in front of the Italian and he built up a sufficient gap to defend his lead.

A beaming Marquez said, “I’m really happy with the race. The strongest opponent was the weather, it was really hot! But yeah, it was difficult. At the start I was worried about the tire life especially looking towards the end. I was not so good through turn one but then I started to overtake riders. I came back strong and I’m very happy to return to the win.”

Marquez’s victory is the 12th of his second season in MotoGP, equaling Mick Doohan’s record of most premier class victories in a single season. The result seals the premier class Constructor’s title for Honda and ends a run of four Yamaha victories.

“I’ve equalled Mick Doohan’s record, with one race left maybe I can beat it! If I had a bad result here the pressure in Valencia would be more. But now I am free in Valencia and I can do well for my fans and just enjoy it! I’ll be giving all my luck to Alex (his brother) at Valencia,” he added.

Having set a new circuit record to claim pole position, Marquez had a difficult start to the race, running wide at Turn 1. The 2014 MotoGP™ World Champion was down as low as ninth before he began to rapidly pass other riders. By lap two he was already in third position.

Starting from sixth on the grid Rossi made an excellent start, getting up into second place on the second lap. Rossi closely followed his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate Lorenzo until the midrace stage.

Lap 10 saw Rossi pass Lorenzo, bringing Marquez through with him. A mistake at Turn 15 on the next lap saw Marquez slip past the Italian. Lorenzo said later he found the conditions difficult having adopted a lighter training schedule during the flyaways.

Rossi finished over one second ahead of Lorenzo, who came strong on the final lap with his harder tire option.

With Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) crashing out of the race the battle for second in the championship is now between the two Yamaha riders as the paddock heads to Valencia for the final round of 2014.

“I’m very happy for this second place. It’s really important, we struggled during the weekend with the setting but this morning we found a good setting.  I was never strong in practice, I couldn’t push at 100 percent. It was a long time since my last podium here, maybe 2010. I love this track so it’s great to return,” reflected Rossi.

“I battled Jorge at the start and that was my target as we’re fighting for second in the championship. After that I saw that I had a strong pace and I was battling with Marquez for the victory, the tires let go towards the end and Marquez had something more. I had to slow while he was able to keep the same rhythm, still a great second place. Double the podiums and victories of last year has been a great season.”

Lorenzo reflected, “Well, they were really difficult conditions, all weekend the conditions have been tough. It was the hottest race I’ve ever had here at Malaysia. I wasn’t the fittest as we trained a little soft. I felt strong physically and the bike was good with traction. My fitness (stamina) was not great as I haven’t trained hard these three weeks outside of Europe.

“The first corners were really exciting and I was brave throughout the opening lap. Valentino was so strong this weekend and I couldn’t stay with them. He did a great job and I was losing a bit on the harder tire. We had some problems with the fuel tank as the support broke and I was sliding forward under braking.”

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) beat Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) to the line for fourth as the Englishman closed in on the last lap, only to run long on the final corner.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) rode bravely to sixth place, having broken a bone in his foot in a big crash on Saturday.

Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) crossed the line seventh, staying upright having almost collided with Pol Espargaro’s rear wheel midrace.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was on course fourth again before he dropped several positions to eighth in the final laps, apparently suffering from a technical issue.

The top 10 was completed by Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) and Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini).

Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) both fell at Turn 1 on the second lap. A mechanical problem forced an early retirement for Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team), his third DNF in three races.

Turn 9 saw Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) lose the front as he chased his teammate Hiroshi Aoyama at the back of the top 10. Fellow Open Honda rider Karel Abraham (Cardio AB Motoracing) crashed some laps later.

Danilo Petrucci (Octo IodaRacing Team) retired with five laps to go, having been in a point scoring position. Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar) also fell, but was able to remount and finish 11th. Alex De Angelis (NGM Forward Racing) retired on the final lap.

Tito Rabat won the Moto2™ title at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix taking third place in a race won by Maverick Viñales, with Mika Kallio in second place.

Rabat made a good start from pole and looked like he would run away at the front but he rode calmly, doing enough to become a World Champion with a race to spare. With 10 laps to go Rabat dropped from the race lead to third place as Kallio and Viñales punched through, with the latter eventually winning by 2.694s.

Rabat finished just over 2.5s clear of Johann Zarco for the final rostrum spot, winning the title and celebrating his 13th podium of a fantastic year with the Marc VDS Racing Team.

It was a third win in four Moto2 races for reigning Moto3™ World Champion Viñales, as he prepares to move up to MotoGP™ with Suzuki next year. For Kallio the title fight is over, but he produced another solid performance for his 10th podium result of 2014.

Also in the top five were Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert). The top 10 was completed by Julian Simon (Italtrans Racing Team), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Sitag), Jonas Folger (AGR Team) and Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3).

An enthralling Moto3™ race saw Efren Vazquez take the win, with Jack Miller and Alex Rins also on the podium. Alex Marquez was fifth and the title battle will rage on in Valencia.

Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG) rode brilliantly in the hot conditions at Sepang with an aggressive battle fought at the front, as championship rivals Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) touched several times.

Vazquez was able to cross the line first, for his second win this year and the second of his long career. Miller was second by a 0.213s margin with Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) close by in third.

Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) and Marquez fought hard on the final lap, with Kent taking fourth. Marquez’s lead at the head of the standings was reduced to 11 points with one round remaining. The Estrella Galicia 0,0 team lodged a protest against Miller following multiple contacts with Marquez during the race and the case will be reviewed by Race Direction.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Standings (courtesy Repsol Honda)

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