MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 26 JULY 1, 2014 P51
engaged with Andrea Iannone's
Pramac Ducati.
Part two, with all on slicks,
saw plenty more variety, includ-
ing at the front. Marquez had a
big moment on his out lap, tak-
ing to the run-off area and giving
the lead back to the shadowing
Dovizioso, who gained four sec-
onds in the process. Thereafter it
was a matter of hunting him down
Briefly...
his attitude and his dedication, and
are contemplating replacing him for
the rest of the season. "We need to
make a decision by the next race,"
said one.
Danilo Petrucci was back in the
newly sponsored Octo Ioda racing
team, relieving substitute rider Mi-
chel Fabrizio of the task of trying to
get the best out of the Aprilia ART
that the team runs. The hard-riding
Italian broke his wrist in a crash
in morning warm-up at Jerez. He
qualified 17th, among the produc-
tion Hondas. Petrucci rides the only
remaining ART CRT bike; with the
team hoping to spearhead Aprilia's
expected return for the new 2016
all-Open rules.
Race direction was handing out
the penalty points again, as they
try to put a stop to the dangerous
practice of riders cruising on-track
during qualifying, hoping to pick
up a tow. Although it's seen in all
classes, it is particularly prevalent
in Moto3, where a slipstream can
make a huge difference to lap time.
This time eventual pole qualifier
Jack Miller was put off the track
on a fast lap when he came upon a
gang of four: Niklas Ajo, plus rook-
ies Hafiz Azmi, Jules Danilo and
Karel Hanika. He regained the tar-
mac with much shaking of his fist.
All of them were awarded a single
penalty point; some satisfaction
perhaps for Miller, who earned two
points for his headstrong last-lap
crash at Mugello.
Jorge Lorenzo (99) had a miserable
Grand Prix, the factory Yamaha rider
finishing a dismal 13
th
.
for the youngster, and he caught
and passed him on lap 16, pull-
ing away to win by better than six
seconds, and gearing up for a
fine piece of theatre.
"It was a tough day," Marquez
said. "This was a race where I
could have lost many points, but
we were still able to extend our
lead in the championship. So I'm
very pleased; it was our first ex-
perience of a race like this, with
both wet and dry conditions, and
we even had a little scare after
the bike change."
Second was Ducati's best re-
sult of the year, and Dovi's sec-
ond rostrum of the season, tak-
ing them a step closer to losing
at least some of their special Fac-
tory/Open privileges. It had been
down, Dovisioso said, to "a good
start, the right choice of tires
and a perfect race strategy. Both
Marc [Marquez] and I were able
to interpret the track quicker than
the others, and we pulled out a
good gap straight away."
Some way behind, Pedrosa
and Aleix Espargaro were en-
gaged in a most entertaining
scrap, with countless changes of
position. As the latter put it: "He
killed me on the straights, and I
killed him on the brakes."
In this way Espargaro led the
factory Honda over the line more
often than not. It was resolved
with eight laps to go when Pe-
drosa finally managed to make a
pass stick, and then escape for a
