Marc Marquez scores 100th career podium after epic Motegi battle
With the Japanese Grand Prix facing wet weather all weekend, the race was no exception and the tricky conditions made the epic duel between Title contenders Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso even more dramatic.
The Italian prevailed over the Repsol Honda rider fighting to the last corner of the last lap after the pair closely chased and passed each other time and again after passing provisional race leader Danilo Petrucci on lap 13.
Marc began the final lap out front but a small mistake at turn 8 – where he almost crashed out – allowed Dovizioso to close in and then take the lead. Marc tried one final attack braking late into the last corner but he exited a little wide and Dovizioso won the drag race to the finish line by 0.249s.
Marc’s second place signals his 100th career podium from 165 starts (the younger rider ever to achieve this milestone), and his 61st in the premier-class. He retains an 11-point lead in the Championship before round 16 at Phillip Island next Sunday.
Dani Pedrosa had a very difficult race as he had some issues with his rear tyre that forced him to retire on lap 21.
Marc Marquez
“Of course I tried and gave it my 100%, fighting until the last lap and the last corner. It was an amazing race with the two guys fighting for the Championship fighting for the win. Today there was a lot of water on track and for some reason I was struggling a little more than expected. I tried to push and be smooth but Andrea was very fast too for the entire race. Entering the last lap, I knew I had only a very small advantage ahead but then I made a small mistake in turn eight, well, quite a big mistake actually, and he caught me. After he passed he was very strong on the brakes and I wasn’t able to match him. In the last corner I tried again but it was not possible to pass him again. Today he did an incredible race and won but anyway I’m happy with our result as I was expecting him to be very very fast here. We scored some good points and made a good show for the fans so it’s ok".
Dani Pedrosa
“It’s been a very difficult day and I'm really disappointed as there was a great opportunity to have a nice race. We have improved so much during the free practice sessions, from FP1 to yesterday, but it isn’t clear what happened with the rear tyre today in the race. At the beginning the rear tyre spun a lot and I lost a lot of traction which prevented me from opening the throttle on the straight. This issue continued to persist and halfway through the race it became worse and worse. I tried everything to make the bike work but it was almost impossible to ride in these conditions. I lost so much time and when I finally dropped out of the points I took the decision to retire, rather than crash. With so much water on track I didn’t expect to have problems with the extra soft rear tire and in fact Petrucci used the same one and he ended up on the podium. We will study together with Michelin the data and try to avoid it from happening again.”
Race Results
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dovizioso Andrea | 4 | ITA | 25 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 47'14.236 |
2 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 20 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 0.249 |
3 | Petrucci Danilo | 9 | ITA | 16 | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 10.557 |
4 | Iannone Andrea | 29 | ITA | 13 | Team Suzuki Ecstar | Suzuki | 18.845 |
5 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | 11 | Team Suzuki Ecstar | Suzuki | 22.982 |
6 | Lorenzo Jorge | 99 | SPA | 10 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 24.464 |
7 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | 9 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 28.010 |
8 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | 8 | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 29.475 |
9 | Vinales Maverick | 25 | SPA | 7 | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 36.575 |
10 | Baz Loris | 76 | FRA | 6 | Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | 48.506 |
11 | Espargaro Pol | 44 | SPA | 5 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | Yamaha | 56.357 |
12 | Nakasuga Katsuyuki | 21 | JPN | 4 | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1'00.181 |
13 | Lowes Sam | 22 | GBR | 3 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1'00.980 |
14 | Barbera Hector | 8 | SPA | 2 | Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | 1'03.118 |
15 | Rabat Tito | 53 | SPA | 1 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Honda | 1'03.514 |
16 | Redding Scott | 45 | GBR | 0 | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1'04.162 |
17 | Smith Bradley | 38 | GBR | 0 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1'06.271 |
18 | Aoyama Hiroshi | 7 | JPN | 0 | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1'13.250 |
19 | Bautista Alvaro | 19 | SPA | 0 | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 3 laps |
20 | Pedrosa Dani | 26 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 4 laps |
21 | Abraham Karel | 17 | CZE | 0 | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 5 laps |
22 | Crutchlow Cal | 35 | GBR | 0 | LCR Honda | Honda | 10 laps |
23 | Rossi Valentino | 46 | ITA | 0 | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 19 laps |
24 | Nozane Kohta | 31 | JPN | 0 | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 21 laps |
Location Information
Located amongst the vast natural beauty of the northern Kanto district, the twin ring circuit at Motegi in Japan consists of a 1.5 mile oval and a 2.9 mile road course constructed to international standards. Built by Honda as the ultimate test facility in August 1997, the road circuit became… read more.
Length | 4.801 kilometres / 2.983 miles |
Width | 15 metres |
Left corners | 6 |
Right corners | 8 |
Longest straight | 0.762 kilometres / 0.473 miles |
Constructed | 1997 |
Twin Ring Motegi, Haga District, Tochigi, Japan - View in Google Maps
Records
Pole Position | 1m 43.790s (166.5km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2015) |
Race Lap | 1m 45.350s (164km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2014) |
Race Time | 42m 21.259s (163.2km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2014) |
2019 Race Winner | Marc Marquez (Honda) |