Repsol Honda's Marquez Makes it 5 Wins on the Season, Pedrosa 5th at MotoGP Round 5 in LeMans

Press Release www.repsolhondateam.com Grand Prix de France Round 5 - Sunday, May 18th 2014   France - Race Report Weather conditions sunny 23°C Air temp 42°C Track temp 35% Humidity Unstoppable Marquez makes it five-in-a-row with another perfect weekend Repsol Honda sensation, Marc Marquez, has enjoyed a perfect weekend in Le Mans taking pole position (with a new record), setting a new fastest race lap (1’33.548 on lap 8) and crowning it with the victory (in a record time) in front of 88,222 spectators. He also became the youngest ever rider (21 years and 90 days) to win five successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Mike Hailwood (22 years and 160 days old). Teammate Dani Pedrosa struggled to find his rhythm in the 28 lap race, slowly progressing through the field from ninth on the grid to fifth by the chequered flag. It was a chaotic start to the race with Marc slipping back from pole to ninth – after being pushed wide by Lorenzo – and Dani dropping a position to tenth by the end of lap one. As things began to settle down, and the race found it’s tempo, Marc started to pluck off the riders in front of him and by lap seven he was already up to fourth, with Dani also passing Smith and Dovizioso into seventh by lap nine. Marc then set the fastest lap of the race en route to passing Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro, and by lap thirteen he was on the tail of race leader Valentino Rossi. A slight error from the Italian gifted Marc first position and from this point he didn’t look back. Dani found some rhythm on lap sixteen, passing Bradl and then on lap eighteen traded places twice with Lorenzo. On lap twenty he made the pass stick and took fifth place but despite a late challenge he was unable to close in on Pol Espargaro and finished 0.3s behind the fellow Spaniard, less then one second off the podium. With his fifth win of 2014, Marc is the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1972, to win the opening five races of the year in the premier class, the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2008 to win five successive MotoGP races and the first to win them all from pole since Mick Doohan in 1997, also on a Honda. He now extends his lead over Dani in the riders’ Championship to 42 points, Honda lead the constructors’ Championship by 38 points and the Repsol Honda Team lead the teams’ Championship by 82 points after five rounds. Team Quotes 1st - Championship Standing: 1st - 125 points “I am really happy with this win, which was different to the other victories. I made a mistake at the start; maybe I was too relaxed off the line, then when Jorge passed me I had to take a wide line otherwise we would have touched and as a result, many riders overtook me. However, from that moment on I began a really good comeback it was a lot of fun, ending in my fifth consecutive victory. Although it might look easy to people, we are working extremely hard and this is the reward for the whole team!” 5th - Championship Standing: 2nd - 83 points “It was a very difficult race to manage, because I didn't get a bad start but had Iannone and Smith coming through very strong on the opening corner; they split the group and even pushed a rider off-track. However, this wasn't the main problem, I had an issue with the front tyre preventing me from making my way up the order. Every time that I tried to be more aggressive I had a lack of grip and it took many laps for me to move forward. It's a shame, because I didn't find a setup that allowed me to ride comfortably and we didn't have a good race. I think I can go a lot faster here than what we saw today” race results   Grand Prix de France - Round 5 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 25 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 44'03.925 2 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA 20 Yamaha Factory YAMAHA +1.486 3 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP 16 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +3.144 4 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP 13 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA +3.717 5 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 11 Repsol Honda Team HONDA +4.077 6 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP 10 Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA +7.088 7 Stefan Bradl 6 GER 9 LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA +11.527 8 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA 8 Ducati Team DUCATI +22.103 9 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP 7 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +22.626 10 Bradley Smith 38 GBR 6 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA +23.108 11 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR 5 Ducati Team DUCATI +25.780 12 Scott Redding 45 GBR 4 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA +39.523 13 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL 3 Pramac Racing DUCATI +42.544 14 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN 2 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA +42.736 15 Karel Abraham 17 CZE 1 Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA +56.644 16 Michael Laverty 70 GBR   Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM +1'14.123 17 Colin Edwards 5 USA   NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA +1'19.723 18 Broc Parkes 23 AUS   Paul Bird Motorsport PBM +1'30.934 19 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA   Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI +1'34.521 20 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA   Pramac Racing DUCATI DNF 21 Hector Barbera 8 ESP   Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI DNF 22 Nicky Hayden 69 USA   Drive M7 Aspar HONDA DNF Rider standings Sunday, May 18th 2014 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Points Team Constructor 1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP 125 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 2 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP 83 Repsol Honda Team HONDA 3 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA 81 Yamaha Factory YAMAHA 4 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA 53 Ducati Team DUCATI 5 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP 45 Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 6 Stefan Bradl 6 GER 39 LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 7 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP 38 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 8 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP 37 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 9 Bradley Smith 38 GBR 34 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 10 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP 26 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 11 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA 25 Pramac Racing DUCATI 12 Nicky Hayden 69 USA 23 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 13 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN 21 Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 14 Scott Redding 45 GBR 18 Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 15 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL 16 Pramac Racing DUCATI 16 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR 15 Ducati Team DUCATI 17 Karel Abraham 17 CZE 9 Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 18 Colin Edwards 5 USA 7 NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 19 Hector Barbera 8 ESP 2 Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 20 Danilo Petrucci 9 ITA 2 IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 21 Broc Parkes 23 AUS 1 Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 22 Michael Laverty 70 GBR 0 Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM 23 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA 0 Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 24 Michele Pirro 51 ITA 0 Ducati Team DUCATI Copyright Free Images - For Editorial use only                                               Circuit Information View circuit page at www.repsolhondateam.com Length 4.185 m / 2.600 miles Width 13m Left corners 4 Right corners 9 Longest straight 674 m / 0.419 miles Constructed 1966 Modified 2008     Automobile Club de l'Ouest Circuit des 24 Heures 72019 Le Mans Cedex 2 T: +33 (0)2 43 40 24 00 F: +33 (0)2 43 40 24 88   www.lemans.org   Pole Position 1m 32.042s (163.6km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2014) Race Lap 1m 33.548s (161.1km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2014) Race Time 44m 03.925s (159.5km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2014) 2013 Race Winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2014 Race Winner Marc Marquez (Honda)   Honda Racing Corporation 3-15-1, Senzui, Asaka-shi, Saitama-Pref., 351-0024 Japan