Just 23 thousandths of a second separated the current MotoGP World Champion from the victory at the Qatar Grand Prix, with Jorge Lorenzo in thirteenth position.
The Repsol Honda Team began the 25th anniversary year for their collaboration with Márquez placing second, having battled for the win until the last corner.
The current MotoGP World Champion remained in a front group which involved up to eight riders, and featured constant overtaking moves from Andrea Dovizioso and Álex Rins.
Jorge Lorenzo, who has was in nineteenth at the end of the second lap, climbed up the order to place thirteenth.
Marc Márquez | 2º +0.023
“It was exactly the same as last year! I tried to push hard but here when you overtake you just run wide and you can’t keep the line. I tried to be there, to push a little and just be there until the end. I’m very happy with these 20 points because normally we struggle here and this weekend especially we worked a lot. We changed some things that meant I couldn’t push like I normally do in braking. But we finished the race and take good points.”
Jorge Lorenzo | 13th +14.307
“There are many positive things today even if where we finished is not what we thought we could achieve. I was very limited by the crash yesterday, it was a very big impact everywhere and especially on my shoulder. It limited everything. From then, I was always slower than at the start of the weekend. I had some problems in the opening laps and lost about three or four seconds there. Without doubt we have much more potential and if we’re not unlucky we can be stronger.”
