Marc Márquez won the Indianapolis Grand Prix on 10 August 2014, his tenth consecutive victory to open the season. The win equalled Mick Doohan’s record streak of ten premier-class wins in a row, a mark that had stood since 1997.
It was not a straightforward ride to history. Márquez started from pole but dropped to fifth in the opening turns as Valentino Rossi led a train of Ducatis. With track temperatures higher than in practice and an unsettled front end, he chose patience over risk.
Ten titles, one first
The race turned on Lap 11. As Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Márquez converged on turn one, Lorenzo dived inside. Márquez read the moment, took the lead in the scramble and immediately built a gap of roughly 1.8 seconds.
From there the Honda rider controlled the distance. Lorenzo eventually cleared Rossi to take second, but neither could threaten the leader. Márquez crossed the line with a race time of 42:07.041, the only rider who had led when it counted.
A record equalled, a season already historic
The result moved Márquez 89 points clear of teammate Dani Pedrosa in the championship standings. It also placed him alongside Doohan as the only men to win ten straight races in the sport’s top class, a sequence Doohan completed in 1997.
The broader campaign would only add weight to that afternoon in Indiana. By November, Márquez had collected 13 poles, 13 race wins and 362 points from a possible 450 — all new benchmarks for a single premier-class season.
The Indianapolis victory belonged to a grid defined by heavy attrition; eight riders crashed out, leaving every finisher in the points. Márquez simply made sure he was the one who never wavered.
