MotoGP 2015: Valentino Rossi wins dramatic Argentinian Grand Prix as Marc Marquez crashes on the penultimate lap
Rossi records his second victory of the season while Britain's Cal Crutchlow finishes third after a last-corner move
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Your support makes all the difference.At the Grand Premio Red Bull de la República Argentina, a heart-stopping moment on the penultimate lap saw Valentino Rossi cross the line for victory and defending World Champion Marc Marquez slide into the gravel.
Going into the third round of the season, Marquez trailed the nine-time World Champion Rossi by five points, and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso by four points. Marquez scored his 24th pole position in qualifying and beside him on the front row was Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone on his Ducati Desmosedici GP15. Rossi struggled with the Yamaha YZR-M1 over the weekend, qualifying in just 8th position on the grid, with teammate Jorge Lorenzo on the second row in 5th position.
From the start, Espargaro shot his Suzuki GSX-RR into the lead in the first corner, but slowly dropped positions as Marquez quickly stole back the lead. A front group tried to keep up with Marquez formed of Lorenzo, Cal Crutchlow and the Ducati duo, while Rossi, who had been pushed wide by Iannone early on, had work to do to catch up from 9th place.
A terrifying moment occurred six laps into the 25-lap race when the Ducati of Colombian Yonny Hernandez caught fire, however he managed to ride across the grass and get off the machine unharmed whist the fire was extinguished.
As the riders started to spread out, Marquez created a lead of over four seconds when Rossi, who had caught the front-runners by halfway way through the race, began closing the lead. He broke the circuit record lap that was held by Dani Pedrosa, with a lap of 1 minute 39.019 seconds, and within the last 8 laps of the race, managed to get close enough to Marquez to make his move.
Overtaking at turn 2, Marquez immediately bit back to reclaim the lead, and when Rossi overtook again on turn 5, Marquez - reluctant to accept the second place - kept the same line on the corner. When his front tyre collided with Rossi’s back wheel, it was the Honda RC213V that flew into the air and finished Marquez’ race in the gravel after getting on the throttle too early.
Watch the video of the crash below...
Rossi crossed the line 5.685 seconds ahead of Dovizioso, who took his third consecutive 2nd place for Ducati this year. Top Briton Crutchlow steamed pass Iannone at the last corner to take the final step on the podium for the LCR-Honda team. Iannone had to make-do with 4th place, Lorenzo had a fairly lonely race finishing in 5th and Oxfordshire man Bradley Smith finished in 7th place on his Tech 3 Yamaha.
Speaking afterwards, Crutchlow said: “It was a tough race. I knew the Honda couldn’t make the hard [tyre] last, but we were able to battle in the front group and although Marc dropped us, I went with the plan, saved fuel and I’m happy with the pace we had.
"Honda did a great job, we all worked hard, we got lucky with the podium because of Marc falling, but I would’ve been very happy with 4th and I enjoyed the race. It’s been a good day for the Brits with other wins and Sam Lowes also getting on the podium [in Moto2]”.
This is the third consecutive win for Rossi when he has started in 8th place on grid. The victory is Rossi’s 110th win in his career, bringing the record of most wins a step closer – currently held by compatriot Giacomo Agostini who has 122 across all classes.
Wearing a Diego Maradona football shirt on the podium, Rossi said: “I am sorry for [the]incident and for Marc, I hope he is OK, but it was a great race and I am very happy for victory.
"It looks like we’re very competitive – three races, two victories already, our pace has been impressive. This track is better for Honda, and in practice we were struggling, but in the race we managed to get great pace. I saw on the warm-up lap Marc had the hard [tyre] choice. In the first corner Iannone pushed me to the outside, an aggressive move and it made me lose time. But, step by step, I had the pace, I had the smell and I knew I had to push and also to save the tyre. I concentrated on riding 100% and we will fight to the end.”
Marquez did visit the medical centre following the race and has suffered a small burn on his right side. About the race he said: “We tried to use a softer tyre to open the gap at the beginning, but Vale is very strong. It was after the back straight and you know what happened, but this is racing and this sometimes happens.”
Rossi now has a six-point lead to Dovizioso in the Championship standings.
In Moto 3 Brit rider Danny Kent takes his second win of the season extending his lead in the Championship by 17 points from teammate Efrén Vázquez.
Crossing the line, an incredible 10.334 seconds ahead, Kent says, “The race got a bit boring for me, but we came here strong from Austin, we’ve got a good bike, we’ve all worked very hard; that hard work is paying off now and I’m really, really happy”
The MotoGP Championship heads to Europe for the fourth round in two weeks, taking place at Jerez in Spain. (Race time: 1pm BST Sunday 3rd May) You can catch all coverage from the race weekend on BT Sport 2.
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