Mission accomplished. The Repsol rider has more than fulfilled his main objectives in this difficult race on the world championship calendar, where the varying track conditions and the special characteristics of the only night race, and this is just the opening race of the championship, mean that it is easier to make a mistake and go home with no points on the scoreboard than with the 16 that Márquez has harvested today.
The race was as expected, ridden in a group and very hard-fought right up to the chequered flag, something that is now normal on this track. With such a long main straight, it is very difficult to open a gap in the 125cc category, so all the leading riders knew that the race was going to be very close.
And that is exactly what happened. From the start, a leading group was formed that gradually opened a gap with the rest of the pack. At the beginning, Márquez, with Vázquez, Espargaró and Terol opened the gap. However, a few laps later Rabat, Cortese and Krummenache joined them, making a seven rider lead group. From then on, the race progressed with the usual incidents, frights and contact of group in which seven riders want to take the lead. Márquez wisely kept out of the way, – as much as possible – riding out front for most of the time.
Then, the last few laps of the race neared and tension mounted. Márquez was overtaken by Espargaró, Vázquez and Terol four laps from the end and he needed three to catch up with them. By the time he did this, Terol was riding alone up front towards victory, so it was time to fight for the other two spots on the podium with his fellow Spaniards Vázquez and Espargaró. After two incredible overtaking manoeuvres, Márquez approached the straight to the finish line second, and first in this group, but on the very finish line and under the chequered flag, he was overtaken by Vázquez; the Repsol rider finishing in a hard-fought third place, earning him 16 valuable points.
Marc Márquez, 3rd at 2.420 sec.
“Obviously, you always want to finish higher up, but we knew that this circuit is particularly difficult and we have to be happy with a podium finish. It’s a good result for the first race, where all riders arrive eager to start and there are a lot of nerves on the track. Throughout the race, I tried to break away from the group pushing forward, but on this circuit it’s very difficult and I saw that I couldn’t. I decided to make sure that I finished the race and didn’t fall because I didn’t want to repeat last year’s experience. Terol, Vázquez and Espargaró overtook me towards the end and I lost concentration a little but in the last lap, I think I did the best I could because the final part of the track was quite difficult. I knew that Efrén [Vázquez] could overtake me due to the slipstream if I went into the straight in front of him, but it was my only chance. We didn’t have the best setup for these conditions because at this circuit there is always sand on the track and that makes the setup needed at each moment vary greatly. However, I have to congratulate the team because we improved a lot over the weekend and if we continue in this way, I’m sure that we can improve even more in Japan. We have to be satisfied with this result”.
