September 22/23/24 2017
Marquez Set To Continue Neck-And-Neck MotoGP Championship Thriller
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) races at home again this weekend as the thrilling battle for the 2017 MotoGP crown enters its final phase. Two weeks ago the reigning World Champion achieved one of his greatest victories, conquering his rivals and the treacherously slippery conditions at rain-soaked Misano. That win, his fourth of the year, put him level on points with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) at the top of the championship.
Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix is the 14th of 18 races, so from here to November’s season finale at Valencia every point will count as Marquez and Dovizioso duel for motorcycling’s 69th premier-class title. Third-placed Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) is also in with a chance, standing 16 points behind the joint points leaders.
Marquez certainly has good form at MotorLand Aragon, an enthralling, undulating circuit built in the hills outside the town of Alcaniz. He dominated last year’s race to put one hand on the 2016 MotoGP crown. He also won the MotoGP race in 2013, during his historic rookie championship-winning year, and the Moto2 race in 2011. Aragon is one of several anti-clockwise MotoGP circuits, which have a strong appeal for Marquez because his preferred training discipline is dirt track, around anti-clockwise ovals. Marquez also has an amazing record at other anti-clockwise venues like Sachsenring, the Circuit of the Americas, Phillip Island and Valencia; also at Indianapolis and Laguna Seca, which are no longer part of the championship.
So far this year the 24-year-old Spaniard has won at COTA, Sachsenring, Brno and Misano. He has scored four further podiums, at Jerez, Barcelona, Assen and Red Bull Ring. If Marquez wins again on Sunday he will take his 60th success across all three classes and become Honda’s second most successful premier-class rider, overtaking Valentino Rossi, who won 33 500cc and MotoGP victories with Honda between 2000 and 2003. Only Mick Doohan has won more, the Australian winning 54 500cc victories between 1990 and 1998, all achieved aboard a Honda NSR500.
Honda is now chasing MotoGP’s 2017 triple crown, with Marquez sharing the riders championship lead while Honda leads the constructors championship and Repsol Honda the teams championship.
Marquez’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) still has a mathematical chance of winning the title. The 31-year-old Spaniard is fourth overall, 49 points behind the leaders, with a maximum 125 points available from the last five races.
Pedrosa has had an up-and-down season, winning May’s Spanish GP at Jerez and taking six further top-three results at COTA, Le Mans, Barcelona, Sachsenring, Brno and Red Bull Ring. However, he has struggled in cool and/or damp conditions, due to difficulties with getting heat into his tires. The former 125cc and twice 250cc World Champion has excellent form at Aragon. He won the 2012 MotoGP race at the track and finished second in 2010, 2011 and 2015.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) may not be in the title chase but the Briton will be gunning for another podium this weekend. Crutchlow has been one of 2017’s fastest independent-team riders, always in the hunt for a top-three finish when things go his way. Although he took his only 2017 podium so far at round two in Argentina, he has finished just one place outside the top three on three occasions, including his home Grand Prix at Silverstone, where he was less than a second behind third-placed Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Last year Crutchlow won two MotoGP races aboard his RC213V and he will be doing everything in his power to return to the podium before this season is done. Three years ago at Aragon he finished third.
Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) had a great ride in the tricky conditions at Misano, coming home in sixth position to equal his best result of the year. That was the young Australian’s sixth top-ten of the year. Miller’s team-mate Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) will be aiming for another strong ride in his third appearance of the year on home asphalt. Rabat has winning form at MotorLand Aragon - he won the 2015 Moto2 race at the track.
Sunday’s Honda-powered Moto2 race is something of a home round for the intermediate series, because the CBR600 engines used by all Moto2 riders are prepared by ExternPro, based in the MotorLand Aragon TechnoPark, which overlooks the circuit. CBR600 engines have been used in Moto2 since the championship’s inaugural season in 2010, clocking up more than two million kilometers.
This weekend’s Moto2 round will be a high-tension race, with just nine points separating series leader Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) from a resurgent Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten Kalex).
Morbidelli has led the championship since he won the first race in Qatar. Following his sixth win of the year at round nine in Germany the 22-year-old Italian had stretched his advantage to 34 points, but when he crashed out of the lead at Misano and Luthi finished second, his advantage was drastically cut.
Both men know that this will be their last chance at the title, because they graduate to MotoGP next season, riding Honda RC213V machines for the Marc VDS squad. Thirty-one-year-old Swiss rider Luthi has been in Moto2 since its inception, winning ten races along the way, while Morbidelli joined the championship near the end of 2013. He took his first victory in Qatar and has now won a total of seven races. Last year at Aragon the pair battled for the final podium place, Morbidelli winning the encounter by less than two seconds.
Third-overall Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) will return to action this weekend after missing the San Marino GP due to a hip injury, sustained during practice. The 21-year-old younger brother of Marc has been working hard on recovering from the injury, but his speed will depend very much on his physical condition. Last year he finished the Aragon race in a close second position.
Fourth-placed Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM) also failed to score at soaking-wet Misano, falling victim to the slippery asphalt that claimed no less than 80 crashes on race day. The 22-year-old Portuguese ace will be aiming for his sixth podium of the year at Aragon.
Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing Suter) won his second Moto2 victory and his first since 2014 at Misano, leading a first-ever Swiss one-two in Grand Prix racing. Aegerter’s success moved him into eighth overall, behind fifth-placed rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex), Silverstone winner Takaaki NAKAGAMI (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex) and Mugello winner Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) who has started the last four races from pole position.
The Moto2 top ten is completed by Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP Suter) and Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex), who scored his second top-three Moto2 result, after a superb ride to third place behind Aegerter and Luthi.
Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) has the honor of holding the largest points lead in MotoGP this season, the 20-year-old Spaniard taking a 61-point advantage to MotorLand. Mir has won seven races to pull clear of the chasing pack, which is led by Misano winner Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW).
Riders of Honda’s NSR250RW machine are dominating the 2017 Moto3 campaign, taking 12 victories and ten podium lock-outs from the first 13 races. Fenati’s runaway Misano win was his second of the season and moved him into second overall, ahead of three-times winner Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) who crashed out at Misano.
Two more Honda men make it an all-Honda top five in the championship - team-mates Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW). Martin has taken six podiums this year and would be higher in the rankings if he hadn’t missed several races through injury. Di Giannantonio scored his fourth top-three finish of the year at Misano, joining Fenati and Mir on the podium.
John McPhee (British Talent Team Honda NSF250RW) and Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) are currently seventh and ninth in the points standings, making it seven Honda riders in the top nine.
Aragon hosted its first MotoGP event in 2010. The circuit is situated 200km (125 miles) inland from Barcelona, Spain’s motorcycling heartland, and can expect a large crowd cheering for their homegrown heroes this weekend.
MotorLand is one of four circuits in bike-mad Spain to host rounds of the series, along with Jerez, Catalunya and Valencia. The circuit twists and turns over undulating countryside and features the steepest gradients in MotoGP, which offers an extra challenge for riders and engineers. Aragon also features one of the longest straights of the season.
Repsol Honda riders have won four of the seven MotoGP races staged at the track, Casey Stoner winning in 2011, Pedrosa in 2012 and Marquez in 2013 and 2016.
After this weekend the MotoGP circus flies east for its annual Asia-Pacific trip with three races over three weekends, commencing with the Japanese Grand Prix on October 15, then Australia and Malaysia. MotoGP returns to Europe for its season finale at Valencia on November 12.
Honda MotoGP rider quotes
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team:
“This championship is amazing, so close! At Misano we returned to the top of the championship, equal on points with Dovi, and our other title rivals aren’t far away at all. The last five races will be very intense and hard-fought; we must keep working hard. I’m happy to go to Aragon this weekend. This is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar, and we’ll try to give 100 percent in front of our home fans and fight for the victory like we did at Misano. We’ll push from FP1 until the last lap of the race!”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team:
“It was a disappointing weekend in Misano two weeks ago but we’ve already put it behind us and are looking forward to the next race in Aragon. We know that we can be much faster if we are able to have positive practice sessions, find a good set-up for our bike and make the tires work as well as possible for us. I really enjoy going to Aragon and I’m looking forward to racing in front of my fan club and my home crowd. I hope the weather will be kind to us and I can be in the battle for the podium again!”
Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda:
“Misano didn’t end up so great for us. I felt good on the bike all weekend, but the conditions in the race were so, so slippery. Now I’m looking forward to Aragon. It’s a good track to be competitive at and the Honda works well there, as we know. I look forward to giving my best there, working well with the LCR team and working closely with Honda is always important, especially at the end of the season.”
Jack Miller, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“Aragon is a track I like, but not necessarily one where I’ve had the best results in the past. Although I missed this race through injury last year, I think it’s a track that should suit our Honda RC213V and I’m looking forward to the last European race before we head away overseas for the races in Japan, Malaysia and my home Grand Prix in Australia. I feel good and I’m ready to push for some good results in the last quarter of the season, starting this weekend in Aragon.”
Tito Rabat, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“I head to Aragon motivated to put in a good performance in front of my home crowd. I like the track a lot and I think with the improvements we’ve made recently with the set-up we will start free practice with a good base. We made a big step in Silverstone, confirmed the changes in Misano and now we need to make the next step this weekend in Aragon. Of course, this is very much dependent on the weather, which looks to be a bit unpredictable over the race weekend, but we will see.”
Honda Moto2 rider quotes
Franco Morbidelli, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“We enjoyed a successful test in Valencia, where we were able to try some changes on the bike as we worked to fine-tune the set-up for the next races. My feeling with the bike was good and now we will see if that translates to Aragon. The Aragon track is one I like and I’ve been fast there in the past, so I hope that I will be fast again this year too. What is important is to end the weekend with a good result, after missing out on points last time out in Misano.”
Thomas Luthi, CarXpert Interwetten:
“After the one-two with Dominique, at Misano we had a lot of nice reactions in Switzerland. It was nice to write part of Swiss racing history. Now to Aragon. It’s a very interesting and demanding track; it’s the only place where I’ve never been on the podium, so I’m hoping to do that this weekend! Sure, I made a good operation at Misano, regarding the championship. But you know me - it’s not time to think about the title; instead we have to concentrate on preparing for Sunday’s race.”
Alex Marquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“Aragon is my third race at home in Spain this season and, of course, it would be nice to repeat the wins in Jerez and Barcelona this weekend, but we also need to be realistic. I head to Aragon after the crash in Misano and while my physical condition is good, I am still not fully recovered from the injury. I still have a few days yet to continue training and I hope that by the time we take to the track on Friday my physical condition will have improved further. We will see how it goes, but I go into the last race before we head overseas fully motivated and I’m confident that we can do a good job this weekend in Aragon.”
Honda Moto3 rider quotes
Joan Mir, Leopard Racing:
“This is the last race before Europe and another race in Spain, so I will be trying as hard as ever to work hard, race hard and keep my points lead as we head to Japan and the other flyaway races, which are a special part of the season. Last year we all had a great battle at Aragon, with the top seven riders covered by less than two seconds, so I expect a similar race this Sunday, with lots of slipstreaming on the long main straight!”
Romano Fenati, Marinelli Rivacold Snipers:
“We come to Aragon from a great victory at my home Grand Prix, which gave us a lot of motivation. Aragon is a track I really like and where I’ve always been able to achieve good results, including a victory in 2014 and a third-place finish in 2015. As always, the most important thing will be to stay focused and continue to enjoy my racing.”
Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0:
“MotorLand is a circuit I have known since childhood, riding there in the Spanish Championship, and I know the lines very well. Last year, in my first race there in the World Championship, I was fighting with the front group until the end of the race, when we were looking for our first podium finish. This time we will look for our fourth victory of 2017. At all the Spanish circuits you get a lot of support from the fans and you feel like part of a big family. I think all this is a plus. In terms of the layout at MotorLand, I love it because it has climbs and descents, blind corners and turns of all kinds. It’s not at all boring and the races here are always very fun.”
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