Hondas outgunned by Ducati
Honda stars Marquez and Crutchlow on the pace but unable to live with super-fast Ducatis
Honda’s Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow both looked capable of taking the win at Brno, but were ultimately forced to settled for safe pointsscoring finishes. Marquez nontheless extended his series lead over Valentino Rossi with third, while Crutchlow came home top satellite machine in fifth. Both men showed strong pace, but fading rear grip later in the race left them unable to fight at the front.
Marquez played down being unable to beat either factory Ducati. The 25-year-old, who celebrated his 100th MotoGP start, has been adamant for some time that the day would come where he’d have to settle for a solid finish. But he’s still a massive 49 points ahead in the title race, with Sunday’s third the worst position he’s finished in all season. “During the race I felt quite good and my speed was good,” he said. “But the problem arrived when I had to fight against a pair of Ducatis. They have really good top speed, good acceleration and good braking points and it’s so difficult to overtake. But Valentino was already behind and my main goal was to just increase the advantage in the championship. It’s my worst result of the year but that is a positive.”
But while Marquez might have settled for a podium, Crutchlow was left with no option but to bring it home safely in fifth place after struggling with rear grip in the second half of the race. Cementing his position as Marquez’s number two while second factory rider Pedrosa finished eighth, he says that he needs more support from the factory if he’s to be as consistent as the reigning champion.
“I had no rear tyre left, because the others saved theirs better,” said Cal. “Marc was able to ride in a better way but I had a lot of floating in the middle of the corners and had to wait a long time to open the throttle. There’s only one difference between Marc’s bike and mine, and that’s what made the difference. I tried to do the best with what I had, and that was fifth.” Marquez has a new carbon swingarm that Cal doesn’t and it could be this he is referring to.