The run down to Turn 1 may have not gone exactly how Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) wanted, but he soon recovered and had the podium in his sights. Lap by lap he made progress, unconcerned when Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) got past him. With Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) encountering a number of problems, Marquez and Rossi were left to battle it out for victory alone. The gap between the two stood steady at just under half a second for much of the race until Marquez turned his pace up and was right with Rossi as the final five laps began. Marquez attacked through the last sector and into Turn 1 a number of times, his RC213V slightly stronger on the brakes than the Yamaha. He was desperate for victory and did all he could to get past.
"I think that together we paid tribute to Luis Salom with the Sunday that he deserved"Unfortunately for Marquez a mistake at Turn 7 cost him any chance of victory, settling for second place. With Lorenzo crashing out of the race due to Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team), Marquez takes control of the MotoGP™ World Championship with 125 points, ten more than Lorenzo.
Marc Marquez: "It has been a hard weekend for all the riders, but in the end I think that together we paid tribute to Luis Salom with the Sunday that he deserved. It was a nice race with Valentino. I was suffering a little with the increase in temperature and was never completely comfortable, so I was unable to try overtaking at the right time. I had a couple of scares and started doing the math for the standings in my head, knowing that Jorge Lorenzo was out of the race, and I think that in the end, a podium finish is a very positive result for the Championship. Another thing that’s important for motorcycle racing is that Valentino and I shook hands; it was probably the weekend and the right situation to do so."