MotoGP lead extended: Marc Marquez claims 65th win of career

World Champion Marc Marquez claimed his 65th career win and his 39th in MotoGP, extending his advantage in the world Standings to 41 over Valentino Rossi at he end of probably the best MotoGP race in history.
Marc Marquez wins a thrilling race in AssenMarc Marquez wins a thrilling race in Assen
Marc Marquez wins a thrilling race in Assen

Over 105,000 ecstatic race fans, packed in around the historic 'Cathedral' of speed Assen race track, witnessed 26 laps of sensational action that saw Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Maverick Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi lead the race at some point before the Repsol Honda man pulled the pin with two laps to go to take an outstanding victory. Rins on the Team Suzuki Ecstar's claimed second with Maverick Viñales on the Movistar Yamaha getting back on the podium again in third. Despite a bit of bumping and barging Dovizioso took fourth and Rossi fifth with British star Cal Crutchlow taking sixth on the LCR Honda. Early race leader Lorenzo crossed the line in seventh with Johann Zarco eighth. The meeting produced the closest ever top-15 in history, as all the point-scoring riders were only separated by a fraction over 16-seconds

Marquez said afterwards. “It was a crazy race, full of adrenaline. This feeling is one of the reasons we do this sport! Yesterday, I was expecting something like this, but nothing like it actually was! We were a wild bunch, everyone fighting against everyone. I think all of us made contact with somebody else at some point. We had to attack and defend, attack and defend. We had so many big moments and risked crashing. It was crazy! It was impossible to define the best strategy, impossible to make plans, so eventually I decided to just fight and see what we could do in the end. In the last three laps, I gave it everything, no matter the tyres, no matter the Championship. I had been trying to reduce the group because when you’re fighting for the title, you just want the fewest riders possible at the front, but it was difficult. Only when I saw I had more than one and a half seconds of advantage before the last lap did I think, Okay, we’ve got it, let’s just finish this lap. It was an important win and 25 very important points, but we need to keep going, keep pushing, and keep this same level.”

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Rossi, who lost some ground to Marquez in the championship added. “It was a wild race. I was so happy to be there, at the front, because it was exciting for all of the race, but I'm sad because I think I had the potential to arrive on the podium. The problem was that at the beginning I was very unlucky with Lorenzo. Lorenzo touched the curb and lost the front at a very high speed. I was already accelerating, but I overtook him in a good way, and we didn't crash, so that was very good. After, during the race, it was very difficult and I tried to control the tyre degradation, because I had the soft option on the rear, so I knew that at the end it could be very much on the limit. With four or five laps to go I tried to attack. I was doing well, because I was in second place. When fighting with Dovizioso, he tried to overtake me in the first corner, but he arrived a little in delay so, unfortunately, I had to go outside of the track. We lost a lot of time, me especially. I think me and Dovi both had the potential to arrive on the podium and like this we arrived just in fourth and fifth place”

The show moves on to the German GP at Sachsenring 15th July.

World Champion Marc Marquez claimed his 65th career win and his 39th in MotoGP, extending his advantage in the world Standings to 41 over Valentino Rossi at he end of probably the best MotoGP race in history. Over 105,000 ecstatic race fans, packed in around the historic 'Cathedral' of speed Assen race track, witnessed 26 laps of sensational action that saw Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Maverick Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi lead the race at some point before the Repsol Honda man pulled the pin with two laps to go to take an outstanding victory. Rins on the Team Suzuki Ecstar's claimed second with Maverick Viñales on the Movistar Yamaha getting back on the podium again in third. Despite a bit of bumping and barging Dovizioso took fourth and Rossi fifth with British star Cal Crutchlow taking sixth on the LCR Honda. Early race leader Lorenzo crossed the line in seventh with Johann Zarco eighth. The meeting produced the closest ever top-15 in history, as all the point-scoring riders were only separated by a fraction over 16-seconds

Marquez said afterwards. “It was a crazy race, full of adrenaline. This feeling is one of the reasons we do this sport! Yesterday, I was expecting something like this, but nothing like it actually was! We were a wild bunch, everyone fighting against everyone. I think all of us made contact with somebody else at some point. We had to attack and defend, attack and defend. We had so many big moments and risked crashing. It was crazy! It was impossible to define the best strategy, impossible to make plans, so eventually I decided to just fight and see what we could do in the end. In the last three laps, I gave it everything, no matter the tyres, no matter the Championship. I had been trying to reduce the group because when you’re fighting for the title, you just want the fewest riders possible at the front, but it was difficult. Only when I saw I had more than one and a half seconds of advantage before the last lap did I think, Okay, we’ve got it, let’s just finish this lap. It was an important win and 25 very important points, but we need to keep going, keep pushing, and keep this same level.”

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Rossi, who lost some ground to Marquez in the championship added. “It was a wild race. I was so happy to be there, at the front, because it was exciting for all of the race, but I'm sad because I think I had the potential to arrive on the podium. The problem was that at the beginning I was very unlucky with Lorenzo. Lorenzo touched the curb and lost the front at a very high speed. I was already accelerating, but I overtook him in a good way, and we didn't crash, so that was very good. After, during the race, it was very difficult and I tried to control the tyre degradation, because I had the soft option on the rear, so I knew that at the end it could be very much on the limit. With four or five laps to go I tried to attack. I was doing well, because I was in second place. When fighting with Dovizioso, he tried to overtake me in the first corner, but he arrived a little in delay so, unfortunately, I had to go outside of the track. We lost a lot of time, me especially. I think me and Dovi both had the potential to arrive on the podium and like this we arrived just in fourth and fifth place”

The show moves on to the German GP at Sachsenring 15th July.