Marquez breaks another record with victory in Valencia and Pedrosa completes Repsol Honda double podium clinching 2014 Triple Crown
Valencia, November 09, 2014
Double MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) scored his 13th victory of 2014 at Valencia to become the most successful rider over the course of Moto GP – the world’s most premier championship of road racing since 1949. The 21 year old Spanish phenomenon took the record from another Repsol Honda rider, Mick Doohan, who won 12 races during the 1997 500cc World Championship.
Although lap times fluctuated, Marc Marquez was able to control his lead and Dani Pedrossaconsolidated third place resulting in Repsol Honda winning their 7th Team Championship (since the beginning of the MotoGP class in 2002) to add to the Rider and Constructor Championships and marking Honda's third Triple Crown in four years and second in succession.
Earlier in the day Marquez had been boosted by the superb Moto3 World Championship achieved by his younger brother Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW), which makes the pair the first siblings to win Grand Prix world titles since the dawn of motorcycle Grand Prix racing in 1949.
Marquez's 19th career MotoGP win - and his 45th in total across three categories - is the culmination of another astonishing season from the 21-year-old who last year became the youngest rider to win the premier-class title and this year the youngest rider to win the world's most important motorcycling prize twice in succession.
Marquez's record-breaking MotoGP ride was nerve-wracking in the extreme, with light drizzle falling after half-distance which had several riders enter the pits to change to their number-two bikes fitted with rain tires. Marquez - who had made his way into the lead from third place at the end of the first lap - saw his lap times drop several seconds as the rainfall reduced grip. But he bravely and correctly decided to c
All this time he was under serious pressure from Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who doggedly chased the youngster until the track started drying out and Marquez increased his pace again to beat the Italian by 3.5 seconds, with team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) crossing the line in third place. The pair's Valencia results were enough to win Repsol Honda the team's title for the second consecutive year. Honda had already won the MotoGP Constructors World Championship, for the fourth consecutive time.
Pedrosa's third-place result was a great return to form after DNFs at the last two events. The former 125 and 250 World Champion once again raced hard throughout, battling his way through from fifth place at the end of the first lap and then resisting the temptation to call into the pits for rain tires. Although he eventually lost touch with the front two, he continued to run a fast pace in the treacherous conditions.
Then with twelve laps remaining small spots of rain began to appear. Lorenzo entered the pits for his wet setup bike, but fortunately for the other riders the rain never arrived.
The 2014 season is now officially over but the 2015 season will begin from November 10th. with a three day test in Valencia. Dani will be on track after lunch but Marc and his team will take a break and start their testing programme on Tuesday, with Marc's brother – 2014 Moto3 World Champion Alex – enjoying some laps on the Factory RC213V as a gift from Honda.
Comment from Riders:
MARC MARQUEZ (1st - 2014 World MotoGPChampionship: 1st)
"I am so pleased, especially for my brother! It is a very happy day, even more than in Motegi when I was crowned Champion. Today Alex took the Moto3 title that he deserved, and to cap it off I was able to close the year with a victory here in Valencia. I congratulate my brother for his season, because both him and Honda have done a great job this year! Now it's time to celebrate in the way that the occasion deserves, because it will be difficult to repeat another season like this. During today's race I was reminded of Aragon, because it was raining and there was a moment in which I considered whether or not to change the bike. In the end we stayed calm and today we were successful with our strategy. It was an ordeal which I enjoyed but suffered a bit at times! Thanks to the whole team for all their efforts this season!"
DANI PEDROSA (3rd - 2014 World MotoGP Championship: 4th)
"It has not been my best season and obviously I'm not satisfied, but you have to take the positives from the situation because we learned a lot this year. Over the next few days we have some testing and we will try to get the best out of the bike for the next test, which comes in February. Today's race was difficult. It rained a lot in some areas of the track and it was very hard to keep upright because other parts of the track it was dry. We had to take risks and also be careful at the same time. On the other hand, we finished on the podium and that's good because we hadn't taken points at the previous two races."
ALEX MARQUEZ(Estrella Galicia: 3rd and World Champion Moto 3)
“I am very happy. It has been a very eventful race, with some complicated situations, but yesterday I felt very strong and I knew I could handle those moments calmly. I was very competitive at all times during the race. Getting this title is the result of all the hard work we've done this season and is a reward for never losing patience and always wanting to get better and better. I wanted to win this title cleanly, and that's what we did. I knew that if a difficult situation was created then I could play the same game, but finally we were able to take the title cleanly. Now the important thing is that we won.”
