Repsol rider achieves second victory in the World Championship, the first with the new Honda. Rins retires on lap 4 with a mechanical issue and Herrera crashes on lap 2.
Alex Marquez took victory at the Catalan Grand Prix after escaping from the start. The Spaniard claimed the second win of his career in the Moto3 World Championship and an important first triumph for Honda with the new Moto3 NSF250RW. Teammate Alex Rins and Maria Herrera were less fortunate today: The former was forced to retire on the fourth lap with a mechanical issue, whilst the latter DNFed after a crash on lap 2.
Taking advantage of the excellent pace he showed in practice, Alex Marquez broke away from the rest of the field on the very first lap, extending his lead as the race progressed to take a home victory, which places him fifth in the World Championship with 85 points. He is 32 behind series leader Jack Miller. Teammate Alex Rins braved an injury from yesterday to take the start, but a gear shift issue ended his race on lap 4. Also failing to finish was Maria Herrera, who was riding in twenty-second when she clipped a fellow rider on lap 2 and was forced to retire from the contest.
The next round will be held in two weeks at the historic circuit of Assen, where the race will take place on Saturday, June 28th.
Alex Rins >> Audio
Retired
“It was a difficult day. In the warmup I went out without a painkilling shot and was hurting a lot, so for the race we decided that I would get the injection and I felt good whilst I was riding. Today we made a mistake, and I say ‘we’ because we are a team. It was also a group mistake when I crashed at the Japanese Grand Prix last season”.
Alex Marquez >> Audio
1st – 41:11.656
“I’m happy, because it was a great weekend. We knew we were a little behind in the overall standings, but we were reassured because we had improved the bike in testing at Mugello. Yesterday I got my first pole; it was very special to do that at this Grand Prix, in front of the home fans. Today I knew it would be a difficult race, so I wanted to start well to gain an advantage and I succeeded in doing so. On the first lap I was already a second and a half quicker than the group behind me. As the race progressed everything was easier, because I was very focused throughout. I had a very good race and I’m very motivated ahead of the next round: The Dutch TT.”
Maria Herrera >> Audio
Fall
“I started pretty well and was able to overtake two rows of riders. I got into the second group and tried to push. But on a corner another rider clipped the back of my bike and I was knocked off-track. On the next lap I was recovering places and when trying to push on the brakes and overtake another rider, I lost the front. I couldn’t avoid contact with him. We worked hard this weekend, I know the bike better now and my times have improved, so although we have not completed the weekend as expected, I’ll take that from this GP.”
