On the eve of the Aragon MotoGP round, Marc Marquez underlined on more than one occasion it was important to give a strong signal to Valentino Rossi who had closed in on the title chase, that he wasn’t going to make it easy for The Doctor. Mission accomplished…

“Valentino was gaining points so it was important to stop the bleeding and do it with a win before the three consecutive overseas races, that are a difficult part of the season. I have a good margin to manage,” said the king of Aragon. “But my priority was to finish ahead of Valentino. I wanted to give him a sign, otherwise he gets mentally even more stronger”.

The two Aces know each other so well that - when they can – they try and play the same cards. In the battle, all the details count, and for the occasion, Marquez wore a special helmet in his home GP featuring a big red ‘on-off’ button.

“It’s a message to my fans on the grand stands and my people in the Honda garage,” commented the championship leader. “Just push the on button and open the full throttle. It brings me an energy boost”.

Marquez the pure racer, who challenges the rules of the physics to claim a win, and the mature rider who knows where the limit is and is ready to settle down when the podium is not handy, have become the same person. A perfect combination of thrill and experience that makes Marquez v2.0 almost unbeatable.

When asked on the eve of the race if he would have been satisfied to take the world title without claiming any more race wins, Marquez had replied without hesitating: “At the end of the day, people remember only who won the title, not the rider who scored more points or more wins or podium finishes. If I can win, like I did in Germany, for example, I will do it. If I have to settle for the fourth place like in Silverstone, I have no problem with it. The key is to have a good margin of points to manage.”

After having finished off the podium in Silverstone and Misano, Marquez took advantage of his pace, the strongest of the field, to change the trend on home turf in Aragon in a perfect weekend where he scored pole position, fastest lap (1’48.684) and win. with Jorge Lorenzo second and Valentino Rossi third, the Repsol Honda rider increases his advantage over Valentino Rossi to 52 points and 66 over Jorge Lorenzo.

BSN sat down with the world champion-elect to analyse his weekend:

What did you expect from this race?
“After the warm up everything looked under control but this year the feelings you have on the track can change a lot from morning to afternoon. I went out on circuit and it was difficult to find the same feeling I had in practice. I was not so comfortable as in the practices and there were some corners where the wind was pushing more than what I expected.

“I decided to push from the start and then I had a big moment at turn seven. I was lucky because I almost crashed. I lost some ground but I saw that Valentino and Maverick were not going away, so I decided to wait and attack when it was the correct moment. Step by step, I caught Valentino. When I overtook him I stayed calm for one lap and then opened the gap.”

How crucial is this victory before the overseas races?
“It’s an important victory because since Austria and Germany we’ve not been able to win again in the dry. Here was a great red point on the calendar, which means that Aragon is a track where we can try to attack, and win. Now we can count on a nice advantage but we have to stay focused because crashing is very easy.”

Would you try to finish the job in Japan?
“I don’t think it’s possible. It would be like winning the lottery. There is some possibility, but I don’t want to make the mistake to put more pressure on me. It happened to me in 2014, when I wanted to win as many races as possible to claim the tile as soon as possible as Binder has done here in Aragon. But I don’t want to make the same mistake. I need to keep on doing a step at the time. If we can make it in Japan, it’s great because it’s Honda’s home GP. But – among the four remaining circuits, Motegi is where we struggle more. My priority is to win the title, not where we do it.”

What is your priority?
“Valentino was gaining points so it was important to stop the bleeding and do it with a win before the three consecutive overseas races. Now we go to Asia with three rounds that are the most difficult points of the season. We know on some circuits we will struggle more and some less, but we need to keep calm.”

Which are the circuits with a red point on your calendar?
“Phillip Island and Valencia suit Honda and my style. Motegi is good, Sepang in Malaysia has some positive and some negative aspects. But more than the circuit for me it’s my mentality that makes the difference.”

We saw you quiet emotional on the podium…
“I’m really happy for my result but I was more close to tears for the podium of my brother Alex in Moto2. It’s not easy to have a brother in MotoGP. He has had a difficult season and many people started to doubt about his potential. But when you remain self confident and the whole team keeps on working in the same direction, then the results arrive.”