Marquez celebrates with team officials. PHOTOS BY VICTOR LLAVE
SEPANG, Malaysia—Honda Repsol MotoGP rider Marc Marquez took home the 2014 Malaysian MotoGP trophy last Sunday, in effect bagging MotoGP’s 63rd constructor’s championship and extending Honda’s record win across all classes with Marquez’s championship in the Malaysian MotoGP. But even before the Malaysian leg, Marquez already took the world champion title in Japan two weeks ago.
However, Marquez’s championship win didn’t fail to dampen gate receipts to a sell-out crowd at the Sepang International Circuit, nearing its 130,000-seating capacity during race day Sunday.
Marquez also broke a new circuit record last Saturday to be on pole position for race day. But despite this, he lost several positions on the first lap, going down to as low as ninth position before regaining the third position by the second lap as he quickly overtook the riders. From then on, it became a three-way battle with him and Yamaha teammates Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.
After the 10th lap, Rossi took the lead. From there, it became a duel to the finish. Marquez saw an opening on the 11th lap and took it, finishing 2.445 seconds ahead of Rossi, also breaking Yamaha’s winning streak.
Coming back strong
“I’m really happy with the race. The strongest opponent was the weather. It was really hot! But yeah, it was difficult. At the start, I was worried about the tire life especially looking towards the end. I was not so good through turn one but then I started to overtake riders. I came back strong and I’m very happy to return to the win,” said Marquez.
“I’ve equaled Mick Doohan’s record, and with one race left, maybe I can beat it. If I had a bad result here, the pressure in Valencia would be more. But now, I am free in Valencia and I can do well for my fans and just enjoy it. I’ll be giving all my luck to Alex (his brother who was also there racing in the lower division Moto 3) at Valencia,” he said.
The winner waves at the crowd.
Marquez claimed his 12th win of the 2014 season, equaling Mick Doohan’s record of most wins in a season. If Marquez wins the next and the season’s final race in Valencia on November 6, he will break the current record of most wins in a single season.
Shuhei Nakamoto, Honda Racing Corp. executive vice president, said: “Once again we’ve seen a very exciting season and it’s been particularly special for our HRC Factory squad, The Repsol Honda Team. Marc showed incredible dominance at the beginning of the season after winning the first 10 races in a row, and I must congratulate him on this incredible achievement. Winning his second MotoGP Championship in just his second year, and also doing so in Japan, is something I will never forget.”
“Dani also did a great job this year and was in fact the first rider to beat Marc back in the Czech Republic. We were supporting him 100 percent to take second place in the Championship but after Phillip Island and today in Malaysia, it’s now not possible, so I’m sure he will turn his focus to 2015,” Nakamoto added.
“I’d like to take this chance to thank all our partners and sponsors for their ongoing valuable support, and to all our colleagues at Honda who work so hard throughout the year to give our riders the best possible chance on track. Also to all our fans around the World, this Championship is for you all! Now we head to Valencia in two weeks’ time where we hope to secure the Team Title and claim back-to-back Triple Crowns,” he said.
Unfortunately, his corider Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the race on the eigth lap, leaving the battle for second in the championship between the two Yamaha riders (Rossi and Lorenzo) in the last race of the year in Valencia.
“I’m very happy for this second place. It’s really important. We struggled during the weekend with the setting, but this morning we found a good setting. I was never strong in practice. I couldn’t push at 100 percent. It was a long time since my last podium here, maybe 2010. I love this track so it’s great to return,” said Rossi.
He added: “I battled Jorge at the start and that was my target as we’re fighting for second in the championship. After that, I saw that I had a strong pace and I was battling with Marquez for the victory. The tires let go towards the end and Marquez had something more. I had to slow down while he was able to keep the same rhythm, still a great second place. Double the podiums and victories of last year has been a great season.”
“Well, they were really difficult conditions, all weekend the conditions have been tough. It was the hottest race I’ve ever had here at Malaysia. I wasn’t the fittest as we trained a little soft. I felt strong physically and the bike was good with traction. My fitness (stamina) was not great as I haven’t trained hard these three weeks,” Lorenzo explained.
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