Marc Marquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol-Suter) won an unforgettable final victory in the Honda-powered Moto2 race, coming from the back of the grid to take his ninth win of the year from Julian Simon (Blusens Avintia – Suter) who led 17 laps of the 27 lap race, run in treacherously damp conditions. Last year’s 125 World Champion Nicolas Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter) led the early stages and finished third, his first Moto2 podium.
Marquez – who next year joins Dani Pedrosa in the factory Repsol Honda MotoGP team – was sent to the back of the grid for an incident with another rider during Friday practice. This was his second win from the back of the grid – he won the 2010 Portuguese 125 GP from the back row after falling on the sighting lap.
The 19-year-old was astonishing on the first lap, passing 23 riders. By half-distance he was up to fourth, but by then Simon and Terol were way out on their own and seemed out of his reach. Lapping more than a second a lap quicker than the leaders, Marquez passed Terol with seven laps to go and took the lead with three laps remaining.
Marc Marquez, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol: race winner
“Before the race I didn’t think I could win. It was an advantage for me to ride without the pressure of the championship – my mentality was to make a good start, rider 100 per cent and see what happens. The difficult thing is that the closer you get to the front the more difficult it is to pass because the riders are stronger. I had a nice battle with Rea, Aegerter and Zarco – I passed them and they passed me many times. Then I saw that Nico and Julian were many seconds in front, so I didn’t expect to beat them. I was on the limit at every corner – okay, if I crash, I crash! To finish the championship with a victory is very good and now I am 100 per cent focused on MotoGP. I am very enthusiastic to discover a MotoGP bike on Tuesday and to work with the best team.”
Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Press Release
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