Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) shrugged off lingering pain from his recent Aragon crash to score a convincing victory in last weekend’s Malaysian GP, run in gruelling tropical heat. The former 250 and 125 World Champion was followed home by team-mate Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V), who once again increased his World Championship lead over Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who finished third.
Pedrosa who also won here last year finished the race 2.7 seconds ahead of Marquez to record his third victory of the season. The result gave the Repsol Honda team its fifth one-two finish of the season, following similarly impressive performances at Austin, Jerez, Indianapolis and Brno. The result increases Honda’s lead in the constructors’ title race and Repsol Honda’s lead in the team championship.
Starting from the second row of the grid, Pedrosa grabbed the lead from Lorenzo on lap five and was soon clear of the entertaining battle that raged behind him, with Lorenzo and pole-sitter Marquez swapping positions time and again before half distance. At one point the Yamaha rider made contact with the reigning Moto2 World Champion who had set a new lap record on lap two but their fight continued unabated until Marquez went inside his rival at Turn 14 on the ninth lap. From that moment on, Marquez had only the brilliant Pedrosa ahead, but he had lost too much time fighting back and forth with Lorenzo and soon realised that chasing his team-mate would entail taking too many risks. He knew full well that all he really needed to do was increase his points advantage over the reigning champ, which he duly did.
With 15 rounds gone and three to go, the remarkable 20-year-old rookie leads Lorenzo by 43 points. If he does go on to win the title, he will be the youngest crowned king of the elite class in the 65 year history of the sport. After his third win of the season, Pedrosa sits just 11 points behind Lorenzo. Without the Aragon crash which wasn’t his fault he would still be very much in contention for the World Championship.
The MotoGP paddock now continues its eastern tour, immediately heading south to Phillip Island for next Sunday’s Australian GP. The quick-fire action continues with the Japanese GP on October 27, before the circus returns to Europe for the Valencia GP season finale in Spain on November 10.
