MotoGP: Misano win for Marquez ‘one of the best of my career’

Marc Marquez has hailed yesterday’s last lap victory over Danilo Petrucci at the San Marino Grand Prix as one of the best wins of his career, after the reigning world champion put it all on the line to draw even with Andrea Dovizioso in the championship race with only five races remaining.

Admitting afterwards that he knew that he had to take the risk to secure the vital championship points over Dovi, who came home in third behind the pair, he nonetheless also knows that he took a major risk given the treacherous conditions.

“This was one of the best races of my career. It gave me an amazing feeling because it required incredible concentration to manage the tension the whole time. It was very easy to make a mistake, and that’s why I decided to attack only on the final lap. That lap was amazing; I took many risks, but with such a close season, it was worth trying to get the five extra points for the win.

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“Of course I was thinking about the Championship the whole race. At the beginning the feeling wasn’t so good, probably because there was so much water on the track, and I had a couple of very scary moments. Lorenzo was amazingly fast early on, and so was Danilo later when he took the lead after Jorge’s crash, but I was able to follow him and finally to attack. Thanks to the team for the great job. I’m happy for everyone after what happened at Silverstone.”

Yet despite the risk he took, he also had time to be calculating during the scrap, admitting after the race that his signal to his crew (with a waved leg to them) was all part of his plan.

“We always try to be ready for every situation, so because we knew that changing the setup from wet to dry takes quite a long time at this track, we agreed that if I felt the track was drying, and there was even a small possibility of a flag-to-flag race, I would signal the team. So I did, and even if in the end that didn’t happen, it was right to do so as we got close to it.

“This Championship is amazing; anything can happen, but now we’ve returned to the top, equal on points with Andrea. The last five races will be very tough, but we’ll keep pushing and give it our 100%. Finally, I wish to congratulate Toni Bou for his 22nd title, it’s just amazing. Keep doing like that, Toni!”

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