MotorLand Aragon - This weekend’s MotoGP will be the fifth time that the Aragon circuit in Spain has hosted an event since joining the calendar in 2010.
Sunday’s MotoGP contest will also be the 800th race in the premier class of Grand Prix racing since the World Championships were first introduced in 1949.
Runaway standings leader Marc Marquez slipped out of podium contention as he tried to stay with eventual race winner Valentino Rossi last time out on the Adriatic coast, eventually finishing the race 15th. Marquez still has a 74 point lead in the standings with five rounds to go and a victory at Aragon would edge him closer to retaining the title before the forthcoming flyaway triple header.
Still second in the World Championship, Marquez’s works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa will aim to prevent his colleague extending the standings advantage. The winner of the 2012 Aragon race, Pedrosa was unlucky in last year’s Grand Prix as he crashed out due to a broken sensor having been innocuously clipped by Marquez.
For Valentino Rossi, his sensational win in front of an ecstatic Misano crowd came more than 18 years after his first GP victory in the 125cc class at Brno in 1996.
That makes making him the rider with the longest winning career in the history of Grand Prix racing - taking this record from his friend and rival Loris Capirossi.
For Rossi and his factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo their mission is to beat their Honda rivals again, with Lorenzo still aiming to register a first victory of 2014, after four recent consecutive second place finishes.
Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso just missed the podium in Italy at round 13 and intends to continue his consistent form in the championship, as does his compatriot and future team-mate, Ducati privateer rider Andrea Iannone who rode well to fifth at the last round.
The likes of Aleix Espagaro (Forward Yamaha), his brother Pol Espargaro (Yamaha Tech 3), Pol’s team-mate Bradley Smith, Stefan Bradl (Honda), Alvaro Bautista (Honda) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) will all be hustling for top 10 prominence come Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Aspar Honda team are expected to welcome back 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden at round 14, as the American returns from his recent lengthy lay-off due to wrist surgery.
Star Motoring