Marquez makes it three in a row, solid fifth place for Pedrosa at Le Mans

Le Mans (France), May 21 (PTI) Defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez enjoyed another fantastic race, taking his third consecutive victory this season and extending his own Championship lead to 36 poi

Le Mans (France), May 21 (PTI) Defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez enjoyed another fantastic race, taking his third consecutive victory this season and extending his own Championship lead to 36 points over second-place rider Maverick Vi ales.

For Marc, the victory was 64th of his career, and his 38th in MotoGP, equalling Casey Stoner’s Premier Class GP win tally.

The only rider on a hard Michelin rear tyre, Marc managed the race perfectly in every phase, on a track that is usually challenging for him.

He kept his cool during the early laps until his tyres were ready, took the lead after the crashes of Title-chase rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco, and eventually built a comfortable gap at the front, which he managed until the chequered flag fell.

Dani Pedrosa rode a strong race, recovering from the fourth row on the grid to finish in fifth place, keeping a good pace for the entire race.

Repsol Honda Team Rider, Marc Marquez said: I’m particularly happy with this win here in Le Mans, as it’s one of the most difficult tracks for us! Today I was the only one on a hard rear tyre, and that made my approach to the race a bit different because I knew it would take a little more time to reach the right temperature.

“But during the warm-up, I had the opportunity to verify that once the tyre was ready, it was very constant, and I was able to keep a very good rhythm. To be honest, things were a bit challenging at the beginning of the race: Zarco touched me in the second corner and I went a bit wide, then Iannone crashed and nearly hit me, so I lost some more positions. I decided to cool down for a while.

“When I saw that Dovi and Johann were out, my approach to the race again changed a bit. At a certain point, I had one big moment in turn three, where I had already crashed in FP3, which is why I was being extremely careful there; I think that helped me to avoid a crash in that moment.”

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.