Marc Marquez’ (Repsol Honda Team) Championship lead was cut to 23 points at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley after the Spaniard crashed out at Turn 10 in Sunday’s race at the Autodromo del Mugello.
On reflection, the reigning World Champion knew his afternoon was going to be difficult after struggling with tyre choices throughout the weekend. “Yeah today we knew before the race that it would be difficult for us because we were struggling a lot with the front tyre in the afternoon. In the morning like you saw today I was very fast, like yesterday, but the race time was in the afternoon,” explained Marquez, who opted for the hard front and rear tyre choices after setting a strong pace on these compounds in morning Warm Up.
However, with the track temperature significantly increasing by the time the premier class went racing, the feeling with the tyres had changed, resulting in Marquez crashing out from P2. Despite the fall, the number 93 was positive post-race, “I’m happy because we were there, if you crash and you are far from the top then it is one thing but today, it was so difficult to manage the risk because we had tyres that were from the beginning of last season where we crashed many times. This was one of the main reasons why didn’t understand very well.”
The reigning Champion wasn’t making any excuses though, but at the same time acknowledged the most important thing was his Championship lead… and Lorenzo taking points off his main rivals. “Apart from that there is no excuse, everybody was the same, we didn’t manage it in the correct way but the most important thing is we’re still 23 points in front and last year we were 37 behind. One of the good things today is that Lorenzo won, he takes points off Dovizioso and Valentino, and yeah it looks like all the title contenders are losing some points and nobody wants to open a big gap.”
En estos momentos es cuando toca sacar lo mejor. Seguimos líderes!!????????
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) June 3, 2018
In these moments is when we have to bring out the best. We are still leaders! #ItalianGP #MM93 pic.twitter.com/sifGn0t8IC
Next up for the rider from Cervera is his home round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Marquez was quick at the test prior to the Italian GP, but insists nothing can be taken for granted with temperatures set to be a lot warmer. “At the Montmeló test were fast and we were consistent, we will see because it will be much warmer and it can change a lot.”