Phillip Island.- When Alex Rins and Marc Márquez overtook Pecco Bagnaia at the start of the last lap, there was absolutely no doubt that the Honda rider was going to try, by all means, to overtake the Suzuki and return to victory a year after the last one, the one achieved at the Emilia Romana Grand Prix last season. However this time the Honda did not accompany the rider and had to settle for second place against a Rins who defended perfectly.
“Being on the podium is the most important thing, what I was looking for and wanting to achieve to give motivation, I knew that the two opportunities were here and in Valencia. We have worked hard, looking for details since Saturday, we have been able to play and overtake like before, from the bike the race has gone by very quickly, it has been a good show I think”.
Watching the Honda race this Sunday, one might think that we are back against the usual Márquez.
“I don’t know if I’ll be like the one before again, today I was able to fight for victory, starting with a risky bet, riding the soft rubber, nobody has used it, but I don’t care, I did ride it”.
The one in Australia is the 100th podium for Márquez in MotoGP, and the 139th since he arrived at the World Championship, equaling Angel Nieto, and now he will seek the first victory of the season for Honda.
“In Malaysia we will suffer again, here the race has been slow and it has not punished me physically,” he said.
In the end Márquez admitted that he had tried to win the race, but could not find the space to overtake Rins on the last lap.
“In turn 2 it was where I could overtake the most, in turns 4 and 10 I could, but the overtaking had to be perfect, I ran the risk of taking the one in front, on the straight I couldn’t. In one last lap, when in the straight you have more, the melee is easier, like with Viñales in 2019, but when you have less, you have to look for life, in the end where I could best take advantage of it was in turn 2, but Rins covered the gap very well “, he admitted.
