Patience and control pay dividends for Marquez
MILAN: Marc Marquez seized the lead on the last lap to win a soaking San Marino Grand Prix for Honda yesterday and pull level at the top of the overall standings with works Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso.
Italian Danilo Petrucci, who led for much of the race at Misano’s Marco Simoncelli circuit on Italy’s Adriatic coast, had to settle for second on a non-works Ducati with compatriot Dovizioso third.
Marquez and Dovizioso are now tied on 199 points with Spaniard Maverick Vinales, who finished fourth for Yamaha, third on 183.
The top two have both won four races, but Marquez has more second places.
Vinales had started on pole position and was the sole works Yamaha rider in the race after Italian Valentino Rossi, who is fourth in the championship on 157 points, broke his leg in training last week.
However it was fellow-Spaniard and triple MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo who made a lightning start to take the lead on the opening lap for Ducati.
Lorenzo pulled away but crashed on the seventh of 28 laps, flipping off the bike at turn six and handing the lead to Petrucci.
The Italian, who has yet to win a race in the top category, then led the next 20 on his Pramac Ducati with Marquez closing in and biding his time before making the move at the start of the last lap.
“In rainy conditions you never know but I was trying to control all the race, trying to control myself because I was able to be a little bit faster but I said ‘you must be patient’,” said Marquez.
“For a moment I thought of staying in second position. Then on the last lap I said ‘I try’. This championship is really tight and five points can be a lot in the end.
“After Silverstone this victory is really important for myself and the team,” added the 24-year-old, who retired with a blown engine in the previous round in Britain. His last lap was also the fastest of the race.
Dovizioso, who would have been the oldest rider to win three races in a row since Australian Mick Doohan in 1998 had he continued his run of success from Austria and Silverstone, said he was happy with a first podium at Misano.
“I was there, but I wasn’t feeling so good on the bike so the risk was too high. Everybody almost crashed today,” he said.
“It was a very difficult weekend but we are there and did another podium in a strange and difficult moment.”
Organisers of the first French Formula One Grand Prix in a decade are aiming for a race day crowd of around 70 000 when the event returns to Le Castellet next year and hope to avoid the traffic snarls of the past.
The circuit, on a plateau between Marseille and Toulon, could accommodate 20 000 more but commercial director Aurelie Letellier said they would not go for full capacity in year one.
“We are confident we can have a big capacity but we are also being very humble,” she said. “So we are working on an estimate of accommodating 65-70 000 for the race. That is a reasonable objective.”
That number would be less than in the final years at Magny-Cours, a track in the rural heart of the country whose last grand prix in 2008 drew 78 000 fans.
Le Castellet, also known as the Circuit Paul Ricard, hosted 14 grands prix between 1971 and 1990 before being converted into a high-tech test track under the ownership of a trust linked to former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
“We are pretty confident we are going to find creative solutions to make the access easier,” Letelier said.
“Clearly there are challenges but we are working on solutions and creative ways to get around them.”
The race, which has a five-year deal, is scheduled for June 24 – before the French school holidays – and as the first of an unprecedented ‘triple header’ with Austria and Britain.
Monaco, just along the coast towards Italy, has its glamour grand prix on May 27 but Letellier said Le Castellet aimed at attracting new audiences to the sport and region. – Reuters THE MOTHER CITY’S two PSL clubs are braced for a daunting yet exciting challenge when they tackle the might of Soweto this week. Ajax Cape Town are first up tomorrow night when they take on Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium (7.30pm kickoff). Then, on Wednesday, it’s Cape Town City’s turn as they host Kaizer Chiefs at Cape Town Stadium (also 7.30pm).
There’s certainly a sense of deja vu for Ajax, in that they haven’t started well over the last few seasons. This time, it’s no different – and head coach Stanley Menzo would have used the international break to motivate and energise the squad. Both Pirates and Ajax have under-performed of late, which should make for an interesting clash tomorrow. Both will be desperate to get back on track.
For Ajax, it’s the start of an era without brilliant young central defender Rivaldo Coetzee. The 20-year-old has transferred to Mamelodi Sundowns. Moving forward now, especially in light of the Pirates encounter tomorrow, Menzo has a tough decision to make with regards to who becomes the first-choice pairing in the centre of defence. He has options: Roscoe Pietersen, Isaac Nhlapo, Junaid Sait, Tercious Malepe and Mario Booysen.
Booysen, 29, came through the Ajax youth academy before going on to play for Bloemfontein Celtic, Maritzburg United, SuperSport United and Sundowns. Now, back at the club where it all first started, he’s ready to make a contribution.
“It’s good to be back,” said Booysen. “To be honest, not much has changed; a lot of people who were at Ajax when I left are still working here, which makes it easier to settle in. What is different is that I am more experienced. I left as a youngster, but I do know the system.”