[COVERAGE] Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP

We return after a three week summer-break with Movistar Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo only separated by 13 points and excited to see them continue the fight at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While Ducati and Honda are not currently fighting for the lead, both Italian riders, Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso have had a stronger first half of the season. At the Honda Team, they have had a rocky start to the season, but IMS has always been good circuit to both Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, who has never lost a round on the American soil.

After media day, a lot of talk has been going around with some riders and the track. Will Indianapolis be on the schedule next year? Is this the last home race for Nicky Hayden in MotoGP? Aprilia makes debut at IndyGP with Stefan Bradl after his team has financial issues. It’s exciting to see a new manufacture join MotoGP; good years ahead for Aprilia and MotoGP. This will be the second year on the resurfaced track and the weekend looks to be in the mid 70’s all weekend; everyone is looking forward to the free practices!

As expected, the first day of free practice(FP1&2) go to Jorge Lorenzo with Marquez on his Repsol Honda less than three thousands of a second behind! And it looks like the Ducati team has continued their good fortune after the break following in third and forth on the day. All eyes are on the Doctor though and he has some work to do as he finished the day in tenth. Qualifying day quickly arrives and FP3 the riders do some shuffling in the standings. Marc Marquez ends up finding an impressive four tenth of a second while Jorge Lorenzo is on par with his times as yesterday. Bradley Smith on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 has an amazing lap and almost takes the top of FP3 with only three hundreds of a second behind Marquez. Rossi still hasn’t found what he’s looking for, though he just gets into Q2 in ninth. As we move into Q2 and find out our top ten, the Repsol Honda team clinches both top spots. As expected on American Soil, Marquez yet again find himself at the top and alone in the 1m31s, finishing at 1m31.884s. He clenches his 5th pole position his season. Dani Pedrosa get in a great hot lap and secures the 2nd position on the grid with a 1m32.055s. To finish the front row, Lorenzo on his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP grabs the last important front row position, 1m32.186s. Cal Crutchlow riding his CWM LCR Honda almost takes that last front row spot from Lorenzo, but ends up being two hundredths behind Lorenzo’s Yamaha. Danilo Petucci and Bradley Smith have an impressive lap time as well while picking up fifth and sixth. Less than a tenth separate third to sixth on the grid! The Ducati team(seventh/tenth) and Valentino Rossi(eight) can not seem to find the time needed and fall back to the middle of the 3rd row. Championship leader Valentino Rossi on his Movistar Yamaha will have to fight through some stronger riders ahead of him tomorrow; the start will be key!

Party Cloudy skies in the low 70s start off the morning warm-up for the MotoGP riders. While it’s a quick session, they can dial in those last minute adjustments. Lorenzo and Marquez found the limit and end up low siding; both riders OK. Now we fast forward to the start of the main event. With nearly 68,000 fans present at IMS, we are ecstatic to see the green light and put behind the three week summer break. The light turns green and we are off! Everyone gets away cleanly and Lorenzo is able to takes the lead into turn 1. He knows on a track like IMS, if he doesn’t attack first and Marquez in front will make things much worse! Rossi has a fantastic start and climbs up to fifth positions after the first lap is completed, while Marquez, Pedrosa, Iannone finish off the top 4. Rossi has clearly found something in the morning and is able to keep a competitive lap time in the beginning stages. Lorenzo also find a favorable setting and just starts grinding out the laps. Are we about to see Marquez finally lose his first American track!? While Lorenzo and Marquez fluctuate between .350 and .100 of a second each lap, that battle behind for third start to pick up. Prior to lap 10, Dani Pedrosa is able to keep a good distance from Rossi at about three seconds, but after six laps, Rossi closes the gap to a mire .144! As the last laps continue, Rossi and Pedrosa keep attacking each other for the last podium position. Back up at the front, lap 23, Lorenzo is still a quarter of a second ahead of Marquez. But Marc Marquez digs deep on the remaining last laps and tries to surprise Lorenzo and it works! By lap 25, Marquez leads by .100 of a second and increases that lead up to the finish line on lap 27, .688 seconds in front of Lorenzo. Marc Marquez on his Repsol Honda has once again won the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP race and still comes out undefeated on the United States circuits all while setting a new lap record(1m32.625s) on his 23 lap! Rossi ends up battling with Pedrosa til the end and is able to holds onto third position. Andrea Iannone on Team Ducati finishes off the top 5. Sadly the only American left on the MotoGP grid, Nicky Hayden on his Aspar Honda finishes in 16th.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has yet again shown us a spectacular race and with growing numbers in attendance at nearly 146,000, we hope this won’t be the last time we return to this legendary flat track. It’s been an superb eight years so far! While Marquez was able to secure the top spot on the podium, this means the championship is even closer than ever this season! Jorge Lorenzo many only have gained a few points, but it cuts the lead to nine points! Tho Valentino Rossi has been on the podium every around, Lorenzo has been able to slowly chip away Rossi’s lead. Rossi will need to push harder if he wants to see that 10th MotoGP Championship Victory! I have a feeling we will be in for an exciting second half of the season and I’m hanging off the chair in suspense!!

Date: August 7-9th, 2015
Location: Indianapolis, IN
By: Erik
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Tags: 2015, Indianapolis, Indy, IndyGP, Moto2, Moto3, MotoGP, motorcycle, Motorsports, Round 10
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