Marc Márquez is still not letting up on his rivals and today, he prevailed again in an evenly-matched head to head with fellow Spaniard Pol Espargaró. After the two riders made a frenetic escape, in a new battle for victory in the closing laps, an error from Espargaró coming out of a turn left him on the floor in an incident in which Márquez was very lucky not to crash with him.
Emilio Alzamora’s protégé was able to overcome the difficult initial conditions of the track – with puddles in some areas and dry in others – to wait for the moment and take the lead of the race after a few laps. With the track half dry and half wet, Márquez and the rest of the riders in the first two rows decided to use dry tyres, forcing them to ride very carefully in the first few laps while the track dried out and the tyres warmed up.
This allowed local riders Folger and Schrotter to escape from the rest of the pack in the first few laps, riding with an advantage of over six seconds over the rest at one stage. However, this advantage quickly faded away in the seventh lap when the tyres reached optimum temperature and Márquez and Espargaró, who had left Smith, Krummenacher, Rabat and Koyama further behind, took control of the race. From then on, the two Spanish riders began another head to head battle, who riding almost two seconds faster than their rivals, opened the gap with the pack preparing their strategies for the final stint of the race.
However, with just three laps to go, a dramatic turn of events at the front. Pol Espargaró, who was riding first at the time, touched a green area outside the kerb with his rear wheel and flew through the air, dropping out of the race. In the fall, Márquez was very nearly involved in the accident, but this time, luck was on his side and the young Repsol rider continued to ride solo towards his fifth consecutive win of the season.
With this latest win, Márquez completes a simply perfect weekend: fastest time in the free practice sessions – on Friday and Saturday and in the qualifying – pole position, fastest lap in the race, the win and leader of the general standings, 26 points clear of the rider in second. What’s more, with this fifth victory, Márquez equals the record of consecutive wins in the 125cc category achieved by Jorge Martínez Aspar in 1988 and closes in on Valentino Rossi’s 6 consecutive wins in 1997. To round off the weekend perfectly, Márquez’ win was the 100th win for the Spanish factory Derbi, the team with which the Repsol rider races in the world championship.
Marc Márquez, 1st 41’28.274 sec. >> Audio
“The race was quite complicated, especially at the beginning because the track was wet and it was easy to make a mistake. Almost all of us went out on slicks because it was clear that it was the best solution after seeing how quickly the track dried yesterday. I tried to concentrate hard in the first stint, when the track was still wet, until I was able to start pulling away. Around mid-race, I saw that the win was between Pol [Espargaró] and me and decided to play my hand, pushing for a lap and then letting him pass in order to study it a bit. With just three laps to go, he fell and that’s a shame for him because you never like it when a rider falls and less so when it’s one of the top riders because for the championship it’s always good to have rivals competing against you. It happened to me in Jerez and here it was his turn and it’s also a shame that Nico [Terol] couldn’t be here because he’s a great rider. What matters now is that I’m 26 points clear and we’re going on holiday with the work well done, happy with the team’s good work, because Sandro [Cortese] also had an important podium”.
