Honda reveals Marquez´s contact caused Pedrosa´s Crash

Repsol Honda Factory team´s young prodigy Marc Marquez may have won the race  fair and square over Lorenzo after catching up twice in the race but it didnt go smooth without a overshadow on way to enroute sixth victory of the season.

On lap 5  Marquez was overtaken by team mate Pedrosa and was trying get ahead of Pedrosa who was chasing  down the race leader Lorenzo, Marquez made a mistake on the braking at the end of the back straight and went in too deep and wide while trying to avoid hitting Pedrosa´s bike in front and went out of track. In the process Marquez slightly brushed off the rear of his team mate which snapped the traction control cable. The brush off or contact was so little that it cant be noticed even in the slowmo replays.

As the current MotoGP bikes are heavily dependent on the electronics, traction control, wheelsping and wheelie limiter, suddenly trying to ride without it would prove in vain. After the cable got cut without notice and as Dani opened the throttle, the Honda immediately threw off its rider as he was caught unaware and could go nothing in those few seconds.

Pedrosa hit the ground hard and was taken to the medical centre for check up but came out without any serious injury while losing the championship chances. It was considered not as a serious fault by Marquez as he too was surprised by the incident and felt sorry for his experienced compatriot and team mate. 

Even though the accident can be considered as a racing incident, Honda is hit by the fact that the incident happened between its own riders who were fighting for the championship, one the experienced and long serving rider and the other is a rookie but a championship material. 

Honda Statement revealed:

The Grand Prix of Aragón has been an event of mixed emotions for the Repsol Honda Team.

Championship leader Marc Marquez, starting from pole for the seventh time this season, extended his Championship lead with a fantastic win – his sixth of the season, but en route he and teammate Dani Pedrosa touched on lap six and as a result, Dani crashed out of the race.

Marc and Dani slipped back to 2nd and 3rd on the first lap but they both chased Lorenzo down and Dani set a new fastest race lap on lap two with 1´48.565. Dani passed Marc on lap five and the two Repsol Honda riders began to catch Lorenzo. It was during this chase that in the back straight, Marc and Dani briefly touched and during the contact, Marc caught a cable on Dani´s real wheel and it snapped – disabling Dani´s traction control and causing him to crash.

It is another disappointing blow for Dani in his bid to become World Champion. He remains on 219 points, 59 points off leader Marc on 278 points with four rounds remaining, Lorenzo is on 239 points – 39 off Marc.

Marquez stated “Today was a very gruelling race, because I had to make two comebacks; the first was to catch Jorge after he broke free at the start, then I needed to make another after Dani passed me and I wanted to overtake him after two laps. I felt comfortable but I went a little wide under braking, lifted the bike up and made light contact with him. I´m not sure he even noticed it, but it was a bit of bad luck because the team told me I caused his traction control cable to snap and I´m sorry for that – it´s something very unusual to see. The important thing is that Dani is OK. I was eventually able to overtake Jorge and take the victory, which is important in terms of both the 25 points and for my morale"

Pedrosa expressed “Fortunately I´m fine physically. I took a heavy knock to my hip and my groin area, but I was unable to escape relatively unhurt from what was a big crash. Marc went in too wide on the corner entry, clipped me from the outside and I went flying when I got on the gas. My mechanics told me later that the traction control cable had been cut by the contact"