Repsol Honda's Marquez Takes 6th Win of Season, Pedrosa 4th in MotoGP Mugello Grand Prix of Italy

Press Release www.repsolhondateam.com Gran Premio d’Italia Round 6 - Sunday, June 1st 2014   Italy - Race Report Weather conditions Sunny 26°C Air temp 45°C Track temp 22% Humidity Marquez makes it six out of six in spectacular finale Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has once again taken more records, continuing his flawless start to 2014 with his sixth win in as many races. Teammate Dani Pedrosa, still suffering after his recent arm surgery, finished fourth after losing time battling with other riders in the early laps. From the start Marc dropped back to third briefly – and Dani down to eighth – but on lap three he passed Iannone and slotted in behind Lorenzo, with Dani passing Crutchlow into seventh. Whilst closing the gap to Lorenzo, Marc recorded the fastest lap of the race on lap five (1’47.892) and the race began to find some rhythm, briefly. Dani passed Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone over the course of four laps, but Iannone – using the super soft rear tyre – was able to pass him back. During laps eleven to thirteen, the two riders battled for fourth position with Dani finally able to pass and open a gap on lap fourteen. Then on lap seventeen Marc made his move on Lorenzo. An epic battle ensued with the two riders passing each other a total of eleven times over the final seven laps, racing within inches of each other at one of the fastest tracks on the calendar. Marc made his final pass on the last lap and led to the chequered flag, beating Lorenzo by just 0.121s. With today’s victory, Marc has become the sixth rider ever – and the first since Rossi in 2002 (also on a Honda) – to win six successive races in the premier class (along with Agostini, Hailwood, Surtees and Doohan). He is also the youngest ever rider to achieve this (21 years and 104 days) taking the record from Rossi (23 years and 148 days) when he took the sixth of seven successive wins in 2002. He has also equalled the number of career victories achieved by John Surtees, who won a total of seven World titles (four in the 500cc class and three in the 350cc class), making him the joint 14th most successful GP rider of all-time in terms of Grand Prix wins. With his tally of 150 points, Marc now extends his lead in the Championship by 53 points over second place Rossi (97), with Dani dropping to third place, just one point off the Italian. Team Quotes 1st - Championship Standing: 1st - 150 points “I am very happy with this win; Jorge and I had a really good battle and had a lot of fun out there! I wasn’t expecting the victory, because it has come at a circuit that I had marked on the calendar as being one for picking up Championship points – not thinking about winning the race. However, I saw that it would be possible and took more risks than at other races, because Jorge and Vale were very fast and we were finding it difficult to keep up the same pace. I think that we did a great job all weekend, and the change that we made to sixth gear in the warmup was very important too; we did this to help pass using a slipstream at the end of the straight. I am very pleased with how the entire weekend went, and now it is time to look ahead to my home Grand Prix - racing at Montmelo is always special” 4th - Championship Standing: 3rd - 96 points "It was a tough race and I wasn't able to get the result that I was hoping for here. My arm is still causing me issues and I wasn’t able to push one hundred percent so thanks to my team for their patience whilst I still recover. The race today was interesting, and I congratulate Marc and Jorge for a nice battle! I think that it is positive to see that we are up there fighting and that we have improved on a few things. Now we have to continue working so that we can be up in the leading group as well, and have some fun with them, but I need to be physically 100% to be able to do so. Tomorrow I will go for a check up with Dr. Mir and hope to be fitter in time for Montmelo in two weeks time” race results   Gran Premio d’Italia - Round 6 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 25 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 41'38.254 2 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP 20 Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA +0.121 3 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA 16 Yamaha Factory YAMAHA +2.688 4 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 13 Repsol Honda Team HONDA +14.046 5 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP 11 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA +15.603 6 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA 10 Ducati Team DUCATI +17.042 7 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA 9 Pramac Racing DUCATI +17.129 8 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP 8 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +27.407 9 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP 7 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +41.886 10 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL 6 Pramac Racing DUCATI +45.212 11 Michele Pirro 51 ITA 5 Ducati Team DUCATI +45.433 12 Karel Abraham 17 CZE 4 Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA +45.831 13 Scott Redding 45 GBR 3 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +45.839 14 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN 2 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA +46.834 15 Colin Edwards 5 USA 1 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +1'09.554 16 Michael Laverty 70 GBR   Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM +1'17.789 17 Broc Parkes 23 AUS   Paul Bird Motorsport PBM +1'35.031 18 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA   Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI +1'37.501 19 Hector Barbera 8 ESP   Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI DNF 20 Michel Fabrizio 84 ITA   IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER DNF 21 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR   Ducati Team DUCATI DNF 22 Stefan Bradl 6 GER   LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA DNF 23 Bradley Smith 38 GBR   Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA DNF 24 Nicky Hayden 69 USA   Drive M7 Aspar HONDA DNS Rider standings Sunday, June 1st 2014 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor 1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 150 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 2 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA 97 Yamaha Factory YAMAHA 3 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 96 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 4 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP 65 Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 5 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA 63 Ducati Team DUCATI 6 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP 49 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 7 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP 44 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 8 Stefan Bradl 6 GER 39 LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 9 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP 34 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 10 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA 34 Pramac Racing DUCATI 11 Bradley Smith 38 GBR 34 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 12 Nicky Hayden 69 USA 23 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 13 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN 23 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 14 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL 22 Pramac Racing DUCATI 15 Scott Redding 45 GBR 21 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 16 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR 15 Ducati Team DUCATI 17 Karel Abraham 17 CZE 13 Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 18 Colin Edwards 5 USA 8 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 19 Michele Pirro 51 ITA 5 Ducati Team DUCATI 20 Hector Barbera 8 ESP 2 Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 21 Danilo Petrucci 9 ITA 2 IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 22 Broc Parkes 23 AUS 1 Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 23 Michael Laverty 70 GBR 0 Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM 24 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA 0 Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 25 Michel Fabrizio 84 ITA 0 IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER Copyright Free Images - For Editorial use only                                                 Circuit Information View circuit page at www.repsolhondateam.com Length 5.245 m / 3.259 miles Width 14m Left corners 6 Right corners 9 Longest straight 1.141 m / 0.709 miles Constructed 1974 Modified     Via Senni, 15 50038 Scarperia Province of Florence Italy Tel: +39 055 849 9111   www.mugellocircuit.it   Pole Position 1m 47.157s (176.2 km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2013) Race Lap 1m 47.639s (175.4 km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2013) Race Time 41m 37.477s (173.889km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2012) 2013 Race Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2014 Race Winner Marc Marquez (Honda)   Honda Racing Corporation 3-15-1, Senzui, Asaka-shi, Saitama-Pref., 351-0024 Japan