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Rins and Marquez fight for victory right through to final lap

Alex Rins places second and Alex Marquez fifth after close last lap. Both cross the line less than 1 second behind winner Luis Salom.

 

The Repsol Moto3 duo had an excellent race at the Italian Grand Prix –a fast race with countless overtakes and a fight for the win that included six riders. Alex Rins and Alex Marquez were two of those competitors, placing second and fifth, respectively.

The race began with Viñales and Folger imposing a strong pace, as the frontrunners broke free from the rest of the field. Rins, Márquez, Salom and Oliveira joined the escape. The 20-lap contest saw a succession of breathtaking passes, with Folger dropping out of the fight with five laps remaining.

Salom and Rins broke away in tandem midway through the final lap, and it was clear that it would be they who decided the victor. Viñales, Oliveira and Márquez battled for the final podium spot, right until the end, whilst Salom clinched the win from Rins by 0.099s. Marquez, on his first visit to Mugello, placed a creditable fifth place, 0.062s behind fourth-placed Oliveira.

With this result, Rins maintains third place in the overall standings and cuts the gap to leader Viñales to 25 points. Márquez continues to lead the Rookie of the Year standings and is fifth overall.

 

Alex Rins >> Audio
2nd at 0.099 sec.
“We are very satisfied, as throughout the weekend we found things a little tougher than other GPs. As the practice sessions went by we improved, and in the race I felt very good. I tried not to lead too many times, in order to not slow down the group and to avoid tyre wear. The only thing that we could have improved was the last corner; I ran wide and was unable to latch onto Salom. I’m not saying I would have won, but at least I would have tried. We are very happy with second place and I want to thank my team for my support –especially when things aren’t going well”.
 
Alex Marquez >> Audio
5th at 0.819 sec.
“It was a nice race –very fun. I wasn’t expecting to be so close to the lead group, but I got a good start and that was the key. I dropped off a little later on, but with Oliveira I got back into the fight, thanks to our slipstreaming. On the final laps I was lacking a little aggression, as everybody was pushing hard and I had a tough time following them. We are still learning, and this is important -I have to be happy with my first race at this track. We rode amongst the fastest group and were able to pick up a lot of things. Now we need to use this experience –above all of the final laps– and apply it to the coming races –like Montmelo, which is a track that I like”.

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