THE RAIN RUINS MARQUEZ RACE

Marc Marquez today fell victim to problematic weather, crashing in the final laps of the Aragón GP, as Jorge Lorenzo took his maiden win of 2014.

The Spanish duo, who started the race in prime positions – Marc 1st and Dani 2nd – dropped positions in the first lap, Marc crossing the line in 2nd and Dani in 4th. After a brief battle with Andrea Iannone, Marc passed into 1st and a few corners later Andrea crashed, promoting Jorge Lorenzo to 2nd and Dani to 3rd. Jorge took the lead from Marc on lap nine for a few laps before Marc again passed for the lead at turn one on lap twelve, as the white flag was displayed by track marshals, signifying that riders may now swap bikes if necessary.

Marc and Jorge then battled for a few laps, trading the race lead, when the rain flag was shown on the start / finish straight at the beginning of lap sixteen. Dani passed Jorge and proceeded to duel with Marc as other riders began to enter the pits to change bikes, for the wet setup and tyres. The rain was almost non-existent at the back of the circuit, but quite intense on the front straight, and with just four laps remaining both Marc and Dani made the choice to stay out. Dani made a small mistake in turn one and crashed out, then unfortunately on the next lap Marc also crashed. Both riders were able to get back to the pit lane and change the bike, but with two laps remaining it was too late. Marc finished 13th and Dani 14th.

Marc (292) still leads the Championship by 75 points over Dani (217), who is 3 points ahead of Valentino Rossi (214) – who crashed out on lap four – and Lorenzo (202) has closed the gap considerably after his race win. Now the Championship will head East in two weeks time for the three back-to-back races of Japan, Australia and Malaysia.

ONE POINT FOR MARQUEZ

After a promising start, Marc steadily progressed up to second, after battling with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. However, as Marc pushed to try and stay with race leader Valentino, he made a small mistake and lost the front in turn four at a fairly low speed, with the bike spinning out. He was able to pick the bike up but had trouble getting it started again. Finally race marshals arrived and managed to bump start him, but by this point the pack had disappeared.

Marc pushed hard to catch the back markers and was able to match the lap times being set by the from runners, but the distance was too great. He crossed the line in fifteenth and took a single Championship point.

Marc maintains his lead in the Championship, but the gap is now decreased to 74 points over second place Dani, with Valentino now just 1 point behind him.