Heartache for Repsol Honda after Pedrosa is taken out and Marquez crashes in final stages of Australian GP

It’s been an emotional roller coaster for the Repsol Honda Team this week. After clinching the World Championship last week in Japan, today the team suffered a double DNF in Phillip Island.

With ambient temperatures fluctuating throughout the day, Marc lost a few places from pole position, dropping back briefly but then moving back up to first by the end of lap one. Dani unfortunately got stuck in the pack and was squeezed down to ninth place by lap five. Marc continued to push at the front – leading every lap – and opened up a comfortable gap over duelling Lorenzo and Rossi. Then on lap seven Dani was hit in the rear by Iannone resulting in a buckled rear wheel rim which forced him to retire out of the race. Marc continued to extend his lead to over four seconds, then on lap nineteen he had an unfortunate crash at the bottom of Lukey Heights.

It’s the first time since Portugal 2010 that the Repsol Honda Team have experienced a double DNF. Now they must pack up and move on to Malaysia for the final race of the three fly aways next week. Dani has lost valuable points in the race for second place in the Championship and now lies in fourth place with 230 points, with Rossi on 255 and Lorenzo 247.

DANI PEDROSA – DNF - 2014 MotoGP World Champion

"Today, because I had no pressure on me, I tried a different approach pushing hard from the start to try to open the largest gap possible. We were having a good race, right up until the crash. It was a pity that I went down at a time that I was not riding on the limit or faster than the lap before. It was a race where there were many crashes, and almost all happened the same way: the front wheel locking up. The temperatures were down a lot, something that was also a factor today. It is better that this happened now, so that I gain experience for next year. You don’t always have the opportunity to try things out.”

MARC MARQUEZ – DNF - Championship Standing: 4th - 230 points

"We had no luck today. I didn't get a good start, I lost a lot on the opening two laps and I ended up in a position in which I was left exposed to what happened afterwards. When you are riding amongst so many riders in this part of the field there are always incidents, and today it happened to me. Fortunately I didn't crash, but the bike was damaged and I couldn't continue."

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