Unstoppable Pedrosa takes dominant victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix

David Bodapati October 25, 2015

300 5 minutes read

Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa converted his record-breaking pace in qualifying into a race winning performance at today’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the Spaniard scoring his second victory from the last three races.

Repsol Honda version of today’s race:

Pole man Dani Pedrosa led every lap of today’s Malaysian GP to take his second win of the season and seal the hat-trick of victories for the Repsol Honda Team in the fly away races. Unfortunately teammate Marc Marquez was involved in an incident with Valentino Rossi and crashed out on lap five.

Dani made a strong start off the line with Marc closely behind him however, after a small mistake on lap two Marc was passed by Lorenzo in turn four demoting him to third place and in front of Rossi. As Dani took control at the front, Marc and Rossi fought fiercely for third place and on lap four the two riders passed each other nine times, with Marc leading as they began lap five.

Again they battled and passed one another five times with Rossi in front as they exited turn thirteen. With Marc on the outside, Rossi slowed them both down into turn fourteen and then extended his leg into Marc’s bike causing him to crash. Dani remained untouchable at the front, winning comfortably with a margin of 3.6 seconds over Lorenzo.

After the podium ceremony, Rossi and Marc were called to Race Direction for a hearing. Their decision – after speaking with both riders – was to give three penalty points to Valentino, resulting in him starting the final race of the season from the back of the grid, as he already has one penalty point after an incident in Misano. Yamaha appealed this decision and the FIM had their own hearing with both riders but the appeal was declined and the penalty stands.

With his victory, Dani moves up into 4th in the Championship Standings with just one race of 2015 remaining in Valencia.

Earlier, starting on pole position, Pedrosa got the holeshot to lead into the first corner and led for the entirety of the race, his overall race time setting a new record for the Malaysian Grand Prix, beating the old mark by over seven seconds. Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished in second and third place respectively, the result meaning that Lorenzo closes the gap to his teammate to just seven points with just one round left to decide the 2015 MotoGP™ World Champion.

Race day at the Malaysian Grand Prix experienced similar weather to the previous two days of the race weekend, with hot, humid conditions. The peak track temperature during the race was 50°C, a figure only slightly warmer than yesterday afternoon and as a result, tyre choice was largely the same as seen in Free Practice 4. The medium compound front slick was used by every single rider for the race except for Octo Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandez, who selected the hard compound front slick instead. Rear tyre choice saw the majority of riders selecting the medium compound rear slick, with sixteen of the riders choosing this option, while the remaining nine entrants opted for the soft compound rear slick. Tyre performance over the twenty laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix was exceptional, with Lorenzo setting a new Sepang Circuit Record Lap time of 2’00.606, beating the old mark by over half a second, while three other riders also set personal best lap times quicker than the old record.

Rossi holds a seven point lead in the championship standings over Lorenzo heading into the season finale at Valencia in two weeks’ time. However, Race Direction has given Rossi a penalty following an incident with Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez, meaning he will start from the back of the grid in Valencia. Marquez holds onto third place in the championship standings on 222 points despite suffering his fifth DNF of the season today.

Movistar Yamaha Version of the race today:

As of today‘s race Valentino Rossi holds the record of most starts in Grand Prix history with 329 starts in what is probably his most dramatic as of yet. The Doctor had a good launch from third on the grid and kept his position as he settled behind Pedrosa and Marquez into the first turn. As Lorenzo started to move up the order, Rossitried to respond, but was forced to let the Majorcan pass with nineteen laps to go and soon found himself trailing Marquez and one of the most heated scraps of the century ensued.

For four laps the Italian and Spaniard bashed fairings and overtook in almost every corner. The fight was decided when with fourteen laps to go Marc crashed as the result of the two coming into contact at turn 13.Rossi continued the race in third place in a lonely ride and held his position over the line, 13.724s from the front.

Lorenzo‘s comeback from second row to second place earns him 20 points and leaves him second in the championship standings with 305 points. Rossi‘s performance sees him take 16 points and leaves him still leading on 312 points, just 7 points in front of his teammate in the battle for the World Championship Title.

Following the incident in turn 13, Race Direction has decided to impose 3 penalty points to Rossi, who will start the next Valencia race from the back of the grid. The following appeal by the Team to the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) has been rejected.

Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department

“Dani showed his amazing talent in the way he dominated the race today, so congratulations to both him and Honda on a thoroughly deserved victory. This race will be talked about for years to come and is yet another exciting chapter in what has been one of the most closely followed MotoGP seasons in years. We had a record race-day crowd of 88,832 at Sepang today and we are all set for a spectacular season finale in front of a sold-out Valencia circuit in a fortnight’s time. It was also an incredible Grand Prix for Bridgestone as all three Sepang records, the Circuit Best Lap, Circuit Record Lap and overall race time records were beaten by huge margins. It has been a busy three week period for our staff, but we head to the last race of the season in high spirits as we look to end our MotoGP adventure in the best way possible.”

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

“We had a dry race today with similar conditions to yesterday, so tyre choice was largely as we expected with the medium compound front and rear slicks being by far the most popular choice. After the outright lap record for Sepang was broken yesterday, we could see that the riders were able to ride at a very quick pace during the race on our 2015 specification tyres, with a new race lap record and overall race time being set. Overall it was a good weekend for Bridgestone and we now look forward to finishing the season on another positive note at Valencia.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team – Race Winner

“It was a really tough race physically, as the conditions were extremely hot and the track is very demanding. All weekend my pace was very good so I think my team did a good job and I’m happy that I could win the race and share it with them and all my supporters. We are progressing well and I’m very happy with the victory today and I’ll try to finish the season in the same way.”

Malaysian MotoGP™: Top Ten Race Classification

Pos	Rider	Team	Race Time	Gap	Front spec	Rear spec	Tyres
1	Dani PEDROSA	Repsol Honda Team	40’37.691	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
2	Jorge LORENZO	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	40’41.303	3.612	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
3	Valentino ROSSI	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	40’51.415	13.724	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
4	Bradley SMITH	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	41’01.686	23.995	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
5	Cal CRUTCHLOW	LCR Honda	41’06.412	28.721	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
6	Danilo PETRUCCI	Octo Pramac Racing	41’14.063	36.372	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
7	Aleix ESPARGARO	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	41’16.981	39.290	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
8	Maverick VIÑALES	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	41’17.127	39.436	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
9	Pol ESPARGARO	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	41’20.153	42.462	Medium	Medium	Bridgestone
10	Stefan BRADL	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	41’22.292	44.601	Medium	Soft	Bridgestone