Round 3 MotoGP Gran Premio de la República Argentina 2014: Unstoppable Marquez wins Argentina Grand Prix

Another dominant display from Marc Marquez this weekend culminated in the Repsol Honda rider winning his third race in a row at the Argentina Grand Prix.

Starting on pole, Marquez found himself as low as seventh place during the opening laps of the race, before he charged through the field to take the lead on lap seventeen. Marquez ultimately won the race by 1.837 seconds from teammate Dani Pedrosa, who has now finished on the podium at every race this year. In third place for the Argentina Grand Prix was Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo, the Spanish rider leading the first sixteen laps of the race after taking the holeshot into the first corner.

Clear skies and calmer winds than yesterday resulted in the best track conditions of the race weekend, with a peak track temperature of 45°C recorded during the race. The warmer conditions resulted in all riders selecting the hardest rear slick option available; hard compound for Factory Yamaha and Honda riders, and medium compound for the Ducati and open-class entrants. Front tyre choice saw six of the twenty-three starters select the hard compound front slick, with the remaining seventeen riders selecting the medium compound front. Tyre performance throughout the race remained consistent, with Pedrosa setting the fastest lap time of the race on lap twenty-two.

Marquez’s perfect win record gives him seventy-five championship points, while Pedrosa is in second place on fifty-six points. Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi remains third in the championship classification on forty-one points after finishing in fourth place today. 

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department

“The lack of wind and warm temperatures today gave us what were the best track conditions so far this weekend and this allowed for a very fast race pace for the riders. The higher temperatures meant the harder compound rear slicks were used by all riders, while only the medium and hard front slicks were selected for the race. The performance of our tyres over race distance was exemplary, with half the riders setting their fastest lap time after the twentieth lap of the race. The large amount of development we did leading up to the race at Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo enabled us to deliver a tyre allocation that allowed riders to comfortably deal with what were rapidly changing track conditions over the race weekend.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda – Race Winner

“I enjoyed the race a lot, especially at the beginning among many riders and with all the overtaking. Jorge started to build a gap so I decided to try and follow him for a few laps, then I saw Dani was coming so I pushed a bit more and it was enough to take the victory. Thanks to my team and the Argentina fans. I am very happy with the result.”