New data makes Marc Márquez’ move at Turn 1 of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo even more impressive.
The save made by Marc Márquez just over a week ago has been spread around the world. The moment in which it occurred (on the final laps of the last race of the year, with the MotoGP World Championship at stake) and new data discovered after exhaustive analysis of telemetry make it even more remarkable. The Repsol Honda Team rider reached the end of the main straight and braked 30 metres later than usual. He took the corner at 153km/h, in third gear. When losing the front end, the front wheel slid for more than 50 metres and his lean angle reached 64º -but he did not go down.
“When I got to the corner I saw that I had entered too fast, but I thought ‘I’ll brake it and I’ll go in’, said Márquez. “But then, ‘boom!’ I supported my weight with my elbow! I used my elbow and knee as a level, and I think that with the help of the fans, I got the bike back up.” The move has been repeated thousands of times television and has been shared with admiration on social media.
The riding and skill of the MotoGP World Champion onboard his Honda RC213V were already beyond doubt among fans. In 2013, the year of his debut in the premier class, Marc Márquez was a pioneer in using his elbow on the asphalt as a reference on corners -an ability that has evolved season after season, to the point where he has had several amazing saves to his name. For example, he had already challenged the law of gravity in testing after the Czech Republic Grand Prix in 2014. He repeated the feat at Brno two years later and made a similar save in practice at this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, at Turn 1 of Sepang. The last time Márquez questioned physics and logic was at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, on the first day of preseason testing, just a week ago.
The start of Lap 23 of the 30-lap Valencia GP was a vital moment that will forever remain in the memory. ‘Márquez style’.
