The hard work done by the young Repsol rider and the KTM 125cc team got its just rewards after a tough three days in San Marino. Marc Márquez got a deserved 4th place at the track of Misano, a result that puts him 7th in the overall classification. The rest of the Repsol riders in this category got poor results at the San Marino y la Riviera de Rimini GP: Cameron Beaubier 22nd, and both Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding had to retire with mechanical problems.
The race began with Simón, Terol and Iannone forcing the pace at the front of the leading group, this allowed them to get away from the others very quickly, at the same time their fast pace meant that the whole field stretched out. Márquez was quickly onto that move and placed himself comfortably in the chasing group, he was always between 6th and 8th positions. The laps went by, some riders fell out of the first few positions and others, like Espargaró, caught them up and made contact with the leading group. Márquez, accompanied by Corsi, Cortese, Bradl & Smith, waited cautiously for their chance on the San Marino track.
On the final lap, with Márquez 6th behind Smith but ahead of Bradl & Corsi, a risky move by Iannone fighting for the victory with Espargaró, whilst Simón loooked on from a comfortable 3rd position, ended with the two leaders on the floor, and so Simón was handed the victory on a plate, he was followed by Terol and Smith. And so Marc Márquez finished 4th in the end, a good result after having started on the second row in 7th place.
Little satisfaction for the rest of the Repsol riders in this category. Cameron Beaubier, in his first ever race at Misano, crossed the line in 22nd place, whilst both Scott Redding and Esteve Rabat had to retire to the pits without any hope of finishing the race after mechanical problems. Redding suffered an engine failure on his Aprilia and he was out after just 5 laps, when he was 11th, and Rabat did the same on lap 15, when he was 10th. Without a doubt a disappointing weekend for the two Aprilia riders.
Marc Márquez, 4º a 9.378 seg. >> Audio
“This was quite a tough race and very hard-fought, one where I finished 4th in the end, but I would have liked to have been nearer the front. I did not have much luck during the race because I was caught in two dogfights just when another rider with a good pace started to push harder and both times the group was cut in two and I was left behind. But my luck changed at the end.
Unfortunately for Pol [Espargaró] he fell with Iannone, but racing is like that and sometimes you are lucky others you aren`t. Anyway, I think that with what we had prepared we had a good race. We lacked a little acceleration, but I am sure that Harald [Bartol] is going to work hard the next 3 weeks so that we can get a better result in Portugal.”
Esteve Rabat, retirado >> Audio
“I had a good start and I got into the chasing group, because 2 or 3 riders had got away at the front. But bit by bit the engine lost performance and that was one of the reasons I was left behind. The set up on the chassis, although it was better than in practice, was not perfect either. I heard a very high sound from the engine and the exhaust was breaking.
Instead of recovering terrain on the straights I was getting left behind. Anyway, the positive thing is that we had a good speed in the race, setting laps with 1 minute 44 seconds, not far away from the fastest lap. I did all I could and it was unlucky that the exhaust broke. In Estoril we will all have to try and concentrate more so that we can turn the situation around and win some points.”
Scott Redding, retirado >> Audio
“I made a good start and I was able to overtake a couple of riders taking advantage of the fact that several riders had collided, but I lost time on corner 2, because Gadea fell just in front of me. I was surprised because the bike was faster on the corners and lost a lot of time on the back straight, so it was impossible to get in the slipstream of the other bikes.
I really pushed hard to get a good result, and everything seemed to be going well except for the problem on the back straight. Then the bike simply stopped when I was finishing the final sector. I opened the throttle a little and I got to the pits, but nothing could be done.”
Cameron Beaubier, 22º a 1’11.814 seg. >> Audio
“I made a good start but after the first lap I began to drop down the field. When I tried to follow the riders passing me it was impossible because I could not keep up the speed I had in practice on the corners. Today it was very windy and I had problems on all the slow corners.
I was really pushing but the pace was nowhere near as good as yesterday`s. In the end I was 22nd, I am disappointed with that. Now I am going to practice for 5 days, and then I will go home to recover, train, and be ready for Estoril.”
