The road to his first Moto2™ victory hasn’t been smooth at times for Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), but the Spaniard kept calm and collected on Sunday in front of a characteristically enthusiastic home crowd to take his first win in the intermediate class – and in incredible style.
Fastest in every session over the Spanish GP weekend except the Warm Up, the EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider took his first Moto2™ pole on Saturday and initially took off at the head of the race until a small mistake let teammate Franco Morbidelli, winner of the first three races of the year, through into the lead. But Morbidelli then made a mistake at Turn 9 – after also having uncharacteristically crashed on Friday – and the Italian slid out, leaving Marquez to face a mammoth count of laps to bring it home clear of the field by over three seconds.
The first intermediate class victory was a big occasion for the rider from Cervera, having not won a race since Motegi in 2014 on his way to the lightweight class crown. A first podium in Moto2™ came last year at MotorLand Aragon, but Marquez has shown a big step forward this year after also undergoing arm pump surgery in the off season on both arms, now back with a bang in the points standings in P4.
His total domination of Jerez harks back to the same situation on slightly different home turf in Moto3™ in 2014, when Marquez dominated the Catalan GP to win by more than three seconds – and then did the same next time out, in Assen. Le Mans is now next on the hitlist, with confidence seriously boosted heading into the French GP after the first Moto2™ win.
Alex Marquez, P1: “This is unbelievable, I couldn't have imagined a victory like this in front of my home fans. I want to dedicate this win to my mum on Mother’s Day. It was a long wait for three years to catch a victory and winning in Jerez is a dream come true. It was a difficult race in hot conditions and when I saw Franco crash I knew how easy it was to make mistake. I could not hold my maximum pace because I was on the limit with the front grip so just controlled the gap to the riders behind. I want to thank everyone in the team and all those who support me in Spain.”