Marquez: another brick in the wall
Three consecutive wins in Aragon and a 72-point lead in the Championship… a somewhat successful Sunday for the Spaniard on home soil
Tags MotoGP, 2018, GRAN PREMIO MOVISTAR DE ARAGÓN, RAC, Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) continued his recent MotorLand Aragon dominance with a masterclass victory at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon to make it three consecutive wins in Alañiz, while extending his overall standings lead to 72 points in the process.
Marquez: "I woke up and said 'I'm going to take a risk!'" 23/09/2018
The Repsol Honda rider took his third consecutive victory at MotorLand Aragon to further his Championship lead to 72 points
"Today I got up and I said 'I have the feeling to take a risk'", said Marquez, who made a late call to switch to a soft rear tyre – a gamble that took some persuading, but there's no doubt it payed off: "I took a risk in the Warm Up, but after I started a big discussion with the team because I didn't feel good with the hard over the whole weekend, so I said "I want to use the soft" then we had many meetings and discussions and I was able to be convincing enough to choose the soft rear because it was the only chance I had to fight against Dovi. And it was the right choice and then the fight was incredible until the end with Dovi because we did a great show for the fans… it was a great moment."
The six-time World Champion launched well from P3 but ran wide into Turn 1, as poleman Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) crashed out of contention: "I started quite well but then when I braked at the first part I locked the front and then because I was in the dirty place, I said 'ok I won't stop the bike' then I released the brakes to go wide, then I started to push, then I didn't realise until I arrived in parc ferme that Lorenzo was out."
A battle for the ages in Aragon 23/09/2018
Marquez, Dovizioso and Iannone went to battle in a race filled with drama from the off
This left Marquez with just one Desmosedici to contend with and one he is yet to get the better of in a head-to-head battle – until today: "But with Dovi also the fight was very very tight, we had a few contacts at Turn 14, he was in then we had contact, I was on the green, but then with Iannone, it was a great fight. Aggressive but in the limits, so this is MotoGP and I think all the fans enjoyed it."
Aforementioned, a third win in a row and a fifth win in all classes proves MotorLand to be a happy hunting ground for the rider born just under 200kms away in Cervera, so there's no surprise he enjoys his home Grand Prix so much: "Of course, MotorLand is an amazing track for me. It's one of my favourite layouts and I enjoyed riding this weekend a lot. There was a lot of pressure, but it's a good thing."
A first victory since the Sachsenring halts Ducati's second part of the season charge and if the title wasn't his to lose already, it is now: "I was focused on the Championship and my weekend, then I was able to stop the Ducati's second part of the Championship with this victory."
On the cool down lap, just like he did over the line at Jerez, the number 93 broke out some dance moves in front of his home crowd. The reasoning? "This morning I listened to "In my feelings" by Drake, I've listened to this song many times. Then I was riding the honour lap and thinking of that song…"
Another year, another @marcmarquez93 dance ????#AragonGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/Uu7qfxdeEY
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) September 23, 2018
Will Marquez continue to dance his way to the 2018 crown in Thailand?
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