2014 Sepang MotoGP Results | Malaysian Grand Prix Recap

2014 Sepang MotoGP Results

Spoiler Alert: 2014 MotoGP Results from the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit listed below.

The Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit marked a sigh of relief for many – it was the final of three back-to-back “fly-away” rounds in the 2014 MotoGP Championship.

But the 22-rider grid – lacking Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, who was unfit to ride following a crash during Friday practice – was met with sweltering temperatures. This provided additional challenges besides the demands that arrive with a grueling three-race period.

One rider seem unfazed by these issues – Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who clinched his second-straight MotoGP title at Motegi – the beginning of the three-race stretch – earned his 12th win of the season Sunday at round 17 of 18.

This ties Marquez with Mick Doohan’s record of 12 premier-class wins in a single season. The feat arrived after Marquez took the pole Saturday, which was his 13th of 2014 – a new record for a single-season in the premier class, ousting the previous three-way record held by Marquez, Casey Stoner and Mick Doohan (all three set on Repsol Honda machinery).

Joining Marquez on the Sepang MotoGP podium before over 80,000 fans was the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

“This was one of the toughest races of the year for me physically and I’m happy to have equalled Mick Doohan’s record! We knew to expect this kind of weather in Malaysia but it was especially hot today and we all found it hard to finish the race,” said Marquez, who took his first win since Silverstone.

“Halfway into the race the pace slowed down because I think everybody needed to take a breath! I’m happy with how I handled the race, because the first corner was a bit of a nightmare but I was able to come back to the front and stay there, whilst I cooled down my tires and brakes. I started to attack with 10 laps remaining, then made the difference when there were five laps to go.”

When the race began, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa – who won at Sepang in 2012 and 2013 – took the lead. Marquez started from pole, but contacted Lorenzo on the opening corner, falling back to eighth.

Pedrosa was quickly overtaken by Lorenzo, and then crashed on the last of 15 corners on the second lap. He was able to rejoin the grid in 12th. Behind, Rossi was up into second followed by Marquez, who quickly moved through the field. The three leaders on their Factory machines continually opened a gap on the remaining riders.

Midway through the 20-lap race at the 3.444-mile circuit, the nine-time World Champion Rossi passed Lorenzo for the lead. Marquez followed suit, also passing Lorenzo. A lap later, Rossi made a mistake, allowing Marquez into the lead.

From there Marquez, opened up a lead, and went onto to win by 2.445 seconds ahead of Rossi. Lorenzo would finished third, 3.508 seconds behind.

Marquez’s win broke Yamaha’s winning streak of four-straight races, and also allowed Honda to clinch the Constructor’s title in MotoGP.

Though Pedrosa matched the speeds of the lead group, he would only move up a position to 11th before crashing a second time with seven laps to go. This time Pedrosa was not able to restart, and suffered a DNF – his second straight with the mishap at Phillip Island.

The battle for fourth was occurring over 20 seconds behind the podium finishers, and only between two riders – LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha TEch3’s Bradley Smith. Smith had caught Bradl on the last lap, but ran wide on the final corner. This allowed Bradl to finish fourth, followed by Smith.

Bradl would cross the line 21.234 seconds behind Marquez, and Smith 22.283 seconds behind. The next closest finisher was Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro, who finished in a lonely sixth, 34.668 seconds behind Marquez. Pol impressed, considering he rode with a broken bone in his foot from a crash in the third free practice.

Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati’s Yonny Hernandez finished seventh after a nearly crashing into Pol Espargaro midway through the race. He was followed by Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso in eighth, who ran as high as fourth but suffered technical issues on his GP14.2. His teammate Cal Crutchlow also suffered mechanical issues, which caused his third-consecutive DNF in as many races.

Completing the top 10 were Avintia Racing Ducati’s Hector Barbera and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Scott Redding.

Many others suffered DNFs. Both NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista crashed at turn one of the second lap.

The sole American in all of GP motorcycle racing, Drive M7 Aspar’s Nicky Hayden, lost the front of his RCV1000R while chasing  teammate Hiroshi Aoyama with 14 to go. Hayden crashed out, and though as his teammate also crashed, Aoyama was able to remount and finish 11th.

Cardion AB MotoRacing’s was the next, crashing out with nine laps to go. Danilo Petrucci (Octo IodaRacing Team) retired with five laps to go, having been in a point scoring position.

Once again, Marquez won in record-breaking fashion. He set a new pole lap at Sepang of 1:59.7912, and a new Circuit Record (under race conditions) of 2:01.150.

The battle for second in the point standings is now between Rossi and Lorenzo. The Italian Rossi has 275 points, 12 ahead of Lorenzo.

The series now breaks for two weeks before the final round at Valencia – the fourth race held in Spain. The action gets underway Friday, November 7 with free practice ahead of the Grand Prix of Valencia held Sunday, November 9.

2014 Sepang MotoGP Results:

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	163.1	40’45.523
2	20	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	163.0	+2.445
3	16	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	162.9	+3.508
4	13	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	161.7	+21.234
5	11	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	161.7	+22.283
6	10	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	160.9	+34.668
7	9	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Energy T.I. Pramac Racing	Ducati	160.6	+38.435
8	8	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	159.9	+48.839
9	7	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	159.8	+50.792
10	6	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	159.3	+59.088
11	5	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	158.2	+1’15.949
12	4	70	Michael LAVERTY	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	158.1	+1’17.966
13	3	63	Mike DI MEGLIO	FRA	Avintia Racing	Avintia	157.5	+1’27.773
14	2	23	Broc PARKES	AUS	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	156.5	+1’44.244
Not Classified
		15	Alex DE ANGELIS	RSM	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	159.3	1 Lap
		9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Octo IodaRacing Team	ART	158.4	6 Laps
		26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	159.5	8 Laps
		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Honda	159.2	9 Laps
		69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda	159.8	14 Laps
		35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Ducati Team	Ducati	160.9	16 Laps
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	NGM Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	152.7	19 Laps
		19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	GO&FUN Honda Gresini	Honda	152.6	19 Laps

2014 MotoGP Championship Point Standings (after 17 or 18 rounds):

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	337
2	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	275
3	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	263
4	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	230
5	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	174
6	Pol ESPARGARO	Yamaha	SPA	126
7	Bradley SMITH	Yamaha	GBR	119
8	Aleix ESPARGARO	Forward Yamaha	SPA	117
9	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	109
10	Andrea IANNONE	Ducati	ITA	102
11	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	SPA	89
12	Scott REDDING	Honda	GBR	75
13	Hiroshi AOYAMA	Honda	JPN	67
14	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Ducati	GBR	63
15	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Ducati	COL	53
16	Nicky HAYDEN	Honda	USA	44
17	Karel ABRAHAM	Honda	CZE	33
18	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	21
19	Alex DE ANGELIS	Forward Yamaha	RSM	14
20	Danilo PETRUCCI	ART	ITA	13
21	Colin EDWARDS	Forward Yamaha	USA	11
22	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	11
23	Broc PARKES	PBM	AUS	9
24	Michael LAVERTY	PBM	GBR	9
25	Mike DI MEGLIO	Avintia	FRA	9
26	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	4
27	Leon CAMIER	Honda	GBR	1