Marquez makes it six out of six in spectacular finale

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has once again taken more records, continuing his flawless start to 2014 with his sixth win in as many races. Teammate Dani Pedrosa, still suffering after his recent arm surgery, finished fourth after losing time battling with other riders in the early laps.

From the start Marc dropped back to third briefly – and Dani down to eighth – but on lap three he passed Iannone and slotted in behind Lorenzo, with Dani passing Crutchlow into seventh. Whilst closing the gap to Lorenzo, Marc recorded the fastest lap of the race on lap five (1’47.892) and the race began to find some rhythm, briefly.

Dani passed Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone over the course of four laps, but Iannone – using the super soft rear tyre – was able to pass him back. During laps eleven to thirteen, the two riders battled for fourth position with Dani finally able to pass and open a gap on lap fourteen. Then on lap seventeen Marc made his move on Lorenzo. An epic battle ensued with the two riders passing each other a total of eleven times over the final seven laps, racing within inches of each other at one of the fastest tracks on the calendar. Marc made his final pass on the last lap and led to the chequered flag, beating Lorenzo by just 0.121s.

With today’s victory, Marc has become the sixth rider ever – and the first since Rossi in 2002 (also on a Honda) – to win six successive races in the premier class (along with Agostini, Hailwood, Surtees and Doohan). He is also the youngest ever rider to achieve this (21 years and 104 days) taking the record from Rossi (23 years and 148 days) when he took the sixth of seven successive wins in 2002. He has also equalled the number of career victories achieved by John Surtees, who won a total of seven World titles (four in the 500cc class and three in the 350cc class), making him the joint 14th most successful GP rider of all–time in terms of Grand Prix wins. With his tally of 150 points, Marc now extends his lead in the Championship by 53 points over second place Rossi (97), with Dani dropping to third place, just one point off the Italian.