Marquez shines in Argentina to to take third MotoGP win in a row

Marc Marquez has become the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1971 to win the first three races of the season from pole position with the Repsol Honda rider storming to victory in the G.P. Red Bull de la República Argentina after stalking Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo who led for two thirds of the race only to fall back a little and finish third when Dani Pedrosa managed pass him towards the end of the race.

Lorenzo had a great start and leaped into the lead with Marquez having the opposite experience and dropping back into 7th with Pedrosa alongside him while Valentino Rossi also had a good start and was chasing Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone who also got of the line really well. There were also crashes for both Alvaro Bautista on the GO&Fun Honda Gresini machine and also for Danilo Petrucci on the IodaRacing bike. Aleix Espargaro also had bad luck on the second lap with the NGM Forward Racing rider crashing and rejoining at the back leaving a monumental task to salvage a point’s finish.

The race took a small number of laps for the riders to settle into a rhythm with Lorenzo falling back to third and then getting back into the lead while it was a similar story for Rossi who was also going well and was in 2nd position only to be pushed out wide by LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl and off the track with the Italian rejoining in 8th. Iannone continued to circulate in 2nd place ahead of Dovizioso while the Repsol Honda pairing were making steady progress with Marquez the quicker of the two.

Lorenzo looked back to his regular self with the Spaniard setting near identical times at the front while Marquez eventually made it into second and it was only a matter of time before he would be on the rear wheel of his fellow countryman. The battle for third place was well and truly alive in the middle of the 25-lap race and the crows packed into the Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo were treated to multiple on track battles with Pedrosa fighting to pass Iannone and Dovizioso while Rossi was also making a come back and was quickly into 4th place and following Pedrosa.

The change at the front came on lap 16 with Marquez unwilling to stay behind Lorenzo any longer and was quickly pulling out gap on the two times MotoGP World Champion and while Lorenzo tried as best he could, his tires were already past their best and a second place finish looked to be on the cards. Pedrosa was pushing hard in third and started to catch Lorenzo moving into the final laps of the race. Pedrosa wasted no time in taking the opportunity to pass Lorenzo for second place while Rossi was unable to bridge the gap to third place and had to settle for 4th.

Bradl finished 5th ahead of Iannone who dropped off the pace somewhat nearing the end of the race and he finished ahead of Bradley Smith who finished ahead of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Pol Espargaro in 7th. Dovizioso also dropped off the pace and ended the race in 9th and the final position in the top ten went to Drive M7 Aspar’s Hiroshi Aoyama ahead of his teammate Nicky Hayden who in turn finished ahead of Energy TI Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandez in 12th and Cardion AB Motoracing rider Karel Abraham in 13th.

Scott Redding had to settle for 14th place for the GO&Fun Honda Gresini team while Aleix Espargaro managed to secure 15th place in the end and ahead of Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera who finished ahead of Ducati Team fill-in rider Michele Pirro in 17th. Michael Laverty took an 18th place finish for the Paul Bird Motorsport team with Mike Di Meglio in 19th for the Avintia Racing team, Colin Edwards for the NGM Forward Racing team and Broc Parkes taking 21st for the Paul Bird Motorsport team.

Marquez was really happy to take another win and was also excited following the action-packed race. Speaking afterwards he said, “I am happy with how the weekend went in general and I’d like to thank all my team! I think it was a nice race for the fans, with plenty of passes and I wasn't expecting it to be like that. As the race went on and I saw what the gap was to Jorge Lorenzo and I tried to catch up with him quickly and spend a few laps on his tail.

When I saw that Dani was getting closer, I tried to overtake in order to maintain more of a gap. I took 25 more points today, which are very important and I've put together three wins in a row, but we are aware that the season is very long and we are now heading to Jerez where Dani and Jorge are very fast. We will need to be up there with them, fighting for the win!” Marquez added.

Pedrosa rued the lost opportunity to get away at the front at the start of the race saying afterwards, “I enjoyed the race but after losing some time at the start it affected me and I found myself alone again. In the final part of the race I had a good pace and was able to recover places, but it didn't count for much. I took second place, but with the pace that we had we could have pushed for the win. You always have to learn and maybe I saved my tyres too much when I was riding as part of the group. Fortunately we found a good setup that allowed us to be more competitive, and this is positive”

Lorenzo was happy just to get a podium finish under his belt and after securing third position he said, “I’m really happy, this is probably the most sweet third place in my career in MotoGP, arriving after two difficult races. We have demonstrated that even in not our best shape we can fight with the Hondas and arrive in a proud third position. We want to improve; I want to improve my physical condition still and also the bike and when the moment arrives I think we will be ready to win races. We have to keep improving and have patience and wait for our moment.”