Marquez: “The battle with Viñales will arrive”

It never came at COTA, as the number 93 took a stunning fifth win

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) remains undefeated in the US after taking his fifth straight win at the Circuit of the Americas, dueling teammate Dani Pedrosa before disappearing into the distance at his signature track.

The race had looked set to be a showdown between Marquez and key title rival Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), but a crash out of contention for the number 25 meant it never materialized in Texas.

That said, Marquez is sure it will come – and is satisfied with a full 25 points after a crash in Argentina, back up in the top echelons of the Championship standings.

Marc Marquez, P1: ““It’s an important victory and an important race because after Argentina it was important to come back in the best way. It was a difficult race because the temperature was much higher than yesterday and five minutes before I said to my chief mechanic I wanted to go with the hard front. I knew that I was pushing a lot with the front tyre and in the beginning I was just trying to take care and understand the limit of the tyre because I didn’t try it a lot on Friday. I stayed behind Dani and when I saw he was suffering a bit I said ‘ok, it’s time to attack.’ Then it was the perfect race for me, really consistent, under control and I’m happy to be back again in the Championship.

“My team put Viñales was out on the board, but I also saw the replay on the screen. It didn’t change my plan because I had one plan – understand the race. The mistake in Argentina was big and I didn’t want to make it again. Somebody said I was out of the Championship already! But the Championship is really long. Now Valentino is leading the Championship – who maybe wasn’t the fastest in the preseason, but has been the most consistent! So big respect to him. I'm sure that sooner or later, the battle with Viñales will arrive.”