BOTH Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa suffered crashes as weather conditions changed during the Aragon Grand Prix.
The MotoGP race had a delayed start due to poor visibility, but it was declared a dry race. Marquez and Pedrosa started from first and second on the grid, but after the first lap they had already dropped second and fourth respectively.
Andrea Iannone crashed out trying to battle with Marquez allowing Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo into second, but not without a fight from the Repsol Honda rider.
Rain began to fall and it wasn’t until lap 12 that the white flag was shown giving the go ahead for riders to enter pit lane and swap to their wet set-up bike.
Conditions deteriorated, but Marquez remained on slicks as did Pedrosa. Whilst Lorenzo entered the pits to change bike Pedrosa crashed out heavily at Turn 1 as Marquez crashed out a lap later. The Repsol Honda riders were able to remount and swap onto their wet set-up bikes managing to finish outside of the top ten in 13th and 14th – in the points.
Marquez explained: “Today's race was difficult because I, like many other riders in MotoGP, had never experienced track conditions like this before.
“It was a shame that it started to rain; if it hadn't, then I think that Dani, Jorge and I would have made the end of the race really exciting for the fans.”
The Spaniard continued: “I think that we did a good job all weekend - it was just a pity about the crash. I tried to hold on because there were only a few laps remaining, but today I learned that in these situations it is better to use a different strategy.”
Pedrosa agreed the conditions during the race were difficult: “It was a difficult race in extreme conditions, but we were able to ride a good first part and were in contention for the win.
“I made the wrong decision about when to come in to change bikes and didn't make the switch on the lap that I should have. My tyres couldn't hold out any longer and I crashed. Luckily I was able to remount and pick up two points from this race,” concluded Pedrosa.
Despite finishing out of the top ten Marquez and Pedrosa both remain first and second in the championship standings.
