MOTO GP

Marc Márquez: “There was a moment when I thought I was lost”

The Spaniard Marc Márquez has spoken on DAZN after achieving victory in the Australian Grand Prix race held at Phillip Island.

Winning here five years later...Very good. Every victory tastes good, but, above all, winning again here in Australia and, apart from that, how the race was in general, even better. Super happy. It was a weekend in which we were constantly in the first three positions, in all the practices; and this has given me confidence to try to catch up. There was a moment when I thought I was lost, because I said: ‘if Martín starts to push, I have no more to catch him’. But then I saw that he was managing the tyre and I said: ‘well, I don’t manage it and let’s see what happens in the end’. I arrived a little bit late, but he was also more or less the same and logically we attacked, as is normal. He had more to lose than me, so I think that helped me a little bit in that melee.

Problem with the tear off at the start... Look, I never throw it, or I try not to throw it on the starting grid, because this can happen. Not only to you, but also to a bike behind. But, just when I was putting the front device on, which I didn't have time to take out, the typical mosquito that leaves all the drool here came on, I saw the traffic light even with water. And I said: 'I have to throw it here, otherwise I won't have time in the first corner'. With the bad luck that it got under the wheel. I saw it, but I didn't get to take it out and that made me slide a lot at the start. I don't know how I was in the first corner, but I saw Marini here. He wasn't very far ahead. I say Marini, but don't get me wrong, it's because he started behind, 15th or so. But anyway, we were able to come back.

Remaining races...We have one good one left, which is Valencia. In the other two we'll see if we can fight for podiums.

You're a judge of the World Championship...Everyone does their own race. Today we saw it once again: I tried to win, as happened here in the past, you always try to get the most out of it. Today I was able to win. We have that fight with Bastianini, who now has some races coming up in which I think he will go very fast, and let's see if we can finish among the top three in the championship.

Márquez was sticking to Martín, whose pace was beginning to make Bagnaia suffer, who was left in no man's land. In the chasing group, Bastianini was progressing to fourth, with Binder and Morbidelli fighting behind him and Maverick Viñales passing Di Giannantonio.

After many laps glued to Martín's slipstream, with four laps to go Márquez slipped through a gap and took the lead... but the Madrid native caught up on the straight, taking advantage of the superior power of the GP24. Already fired up, Márquez released the brakes at turn 4 and moved back to the front.

From then on, Marc Márquez gritted his teeth and managed to gain a few tenths of a second that seemed decisive, and they were: Jorge Martín threw in the towel, taking the 20 points as good; and the 93 took his third victory of the season, with Pecco Bagnaia completing the podium.

Fabio Di Giannantonio recovered and took the fight for fourth place from Enea Bastianini, with Franco Morbidelli completing the Ducati top six by beating Brad Binder and Maverick Viñales. The top 10 was closed by Fabio Quartararo and Raúl Fernández, with Álex Rins and Álex Márquez in the points.

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