Márquez Wins Tenth Consecutive in 2014

Marc Márquez is half way to a record after winning the Indianapolis Grand Prix from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is the Spaniard's tenth consecutive victory and fourth career win at Indianapolis between the three classes.

Marquez started from pole but fell to fourth on the first lap behind Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo. The two Italians were fighting hard for the lead as Dovizioso made a pass on Rossi into turn one on lap six. Rossi continued to pressure the Ducati rider in the next two turns and slight contact with Dovizioso opened the door for Márquez and Lorenzo to blow by. Rossi would retake the lead later that lap and lead all the way to lap ten.

Márquez would take the lead once and for all on lap eleven and win the race by just over two seconds from Lorenzo who passed his teammate on lap fifteen. Rossi rounded out the podium, his first podium at Indianapolis since winning the inaugural race in 2008. With his third place finish, Rossi became the first rider to surpass 4,000 career points.

Not only does Márquez remain unbeaten in 2014 but unbeaten in the United States in MotoGP. He has won all five MotoGP races he has started in the United States with two wins at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca going along with his two victories at Indianapolis.

Dani Pedrosa went from eighth to fourth just over ten seconds behind his factory Honda teammate. The Tech3 Yamahas of Pol Espargaró and Bradley Smith finished fifth and sixth respectively. Dovizioso slid back after the early battle at the front to finish seventh. The Italian finished just over nineteen seconds over his factory Ducati teammate Cal Crutchlow. Crutchlow had a tough battle with fellow Brit Scott Redding for eighth. Redding was the top Open class bike. Fellow Open class rider Hiroshi Aoyama rounded out the top ten on his Aspar Honda.

Karel Abraham picked up his best finish of 2014 with an eleventh place finish. French rider Mike Di Meglio scored his first career MotoGP points with a twelfth place finish. Colin Edwards finished thirteenth in his final MotoGP race in the United States. It is the third time Edwards has finished in the points in 2014. Michael Laverty picked up his first points of 2014 by finishing fourteenth and his Paul Bird Motorsport teammate Broc Parkes rounded out the points in fifteenth.

The fifteen point scorers were the only riders to finish the race. Aspar Honda's Leon Camier retired eight laps before the finish on debut. Camier was substituting for the injured former world champion Nicky Hayden. Andrea Iannone was solidly in the points before a mechanical failure ended his afternoon. Aleix Espargaró and Stefan Bradl had an accident with fifteen to go end their days. Other riders that failed to finish were Danilo Petrucci, Héctor Barberá, Yonny Hernández and Álvaro Bautista.

Márquez has 250 points through ten races and holds an 89-point lead over his teammate Pedrosa. Rossi is third in the championship, 93 back with his Yamaha teammate Lorenzo in fourth, 133 behind Márquez. Dovizioso rounds out the top five and is only other rider with triple-digit points. The Italian trails Márquez by 142 points.

With his victory, Márquez became the fifth rider to win ten consecutive races in 500cc/MotoGP class. The last man to do it was Mick Doohan in 1997. Giacomo Agostini won ten consecutive in 1970. John Surtees won eleven consecutive from 1958-1960 and Mike Hailwood won twelve in a row from 1963-1964.

Márquez is now halfway to the record for most consecutive victory in 500cc/MotoGP history. Giacomo Agostini won twenty consecutive races from 1968-1969.

The next round of the 2014 MotoGP season occurs next week from Brno, Czech Republic.