Last lap victory for Repsol Honda Team rider -his fifth in a row- brings Repsol Honda 1 point away from Teams World Championship leader
Marc Márquez qualified third in the Q2 session held this morning. Starting from the front row, he was down in fifth on Lap 4.
Gradually he regained ground, and from Lap 10 he escaped just behind Maverick Viñales, who he overtook at the beginning of the last time around the Phillip Island track.
With today’s victory, Márquez has 11 wins and 5 second positions from 17 races, beating Mick Doohan to become the rider with the most premier class wins in Honda’s history.
Jorge Lorenzo, who started from 19th position on the grid, crossed the line 16th.
Marc Márquez | 1st 40’43.729
“It has been a crazy weekend with the weather and everything. Maverick was very fast today, but I was able to follow him and start slowly cooking the victory. Viñales started to push very hard and very fast at the front, but I knew that if I could stay with him for four or five laps then the victory was possible. The Repsol Honda Team have done a great job with the limited track time we have had. We had to gamble a little bit with the soft rear tyre and it was on the limit in the end, but we were able to win! It’s really special to take this 55th win with Honda, I feel incredible with the Honda family and I’m excited to enjoy this moment with them and the team.”
Jorge Lorenzo | +1’06.045
“I expected before we arrived that I would struggle here but you’re always hopeful that things will change and you’re able to be fast. From FP1 we struggled in the wind and the cold. It’s the worst result since returning from the Assen injury, unfortunately this is reality. Malaysia in normal conditions will be better, it’s a track that suits me more and I think we can return to a pace similar to what we had in Motegi.”
