VOL. 52 ISSUE 20 MAY 19, 2015 P85
he said, "and when I saw Marc
[Marquez] brake later I thought:
he's not going to make the
corner."
Correct. The Honda ran wide
on the exit; letting not only
Lorenzo but also both Ducatis
through.
Lorenzo was never headed,
but could never relax. Dovizio-
so's pressure was relentless for
the first half of the race; Iannone
in turn pushing on his team-
mate. Rossi was closing.
Briefly...
of the back straight I arrived at the
chicane with too much engine brak-
ing, and I almost crashed." Mechan-
ics found a broken sensor.
Less information was available after
a second on-track engine failure at
Honda for Marc Marquez, as he
pulled over at the end of pit lane at
the beginning of FP1, and wheeled
the bike back to his box with a dead
engine. This was much as happened
at Austin, triggered by a warning
light during qualifying: and while that
engine has not been officially with-
drawn, it will not be seen again, leav-
ing the defending champion four of
his allocation of five. He completed
the session on his number two bike,
while mechanics attended to the
first behind what shrouds they could
muster. Was this another rare failure
for the ultra-reliable RC213V Honda?
Is Marquez down to just three en-
gines? Definitely not, according to
tight-lipped comments from the back
of the garage. "It was purely electri-
cal, a failed component."
Aleix Espargaro was lucky to walk
away from a massive crash in FP3—
the first major setback in his and the
Suzuki's first season together. He
and teammate Maverick Vinales have
to rely on high corner speed to get
the best out of the sweet-handling,
but relatively slow GSX-RR, and he
was travelling at around 124 mph on
the downhill run after the Dunlop
Bridge when his extra-soft rear tire
let go. The subsequent high side
was "the biggest of my career," the
Spaniard said. Fortunately he was
mainly badly battered, with some
ligament damage to his right hand.
Not enough to stop him from qualify-
ing and racing. He retired early, but
it was because of a clutch problem
Rossi (right) made
his way past
Marquez (left)
and set after the
Factory Ducatis up
ahead.
continued on next page
