Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez issued an ominous statement to his MotoGP rivals after his dominant win, which saw him regain the World Championship top spot in Jerez.

Marquez arrived in Jerez after an uncharacteristic mistake in Austin, which left him trailing in the World Championship standings through three races. Starting from the outside of the front row, Marquez was leading into the first corner and never seen again, eventually winning from Alex Rins by just under two seconds.

The Spaniard said his intention this weekend was to come out and show he is the same rider as he has been since coming into MotoGP back in 2013.

“After Austin I saw many people say ‘it’s his weak point, ‘he crashed’, blah, blah, blah, I just don’t care,” said the 26-year-old.

“I mean I had the confidence and I know what happened in Austin and my goal today was to be from the beginning to the end at the front to show people I am the same Marc, same confidence and this year I feel good.”

As for today’s race, Marquez was put under pressure in the early stages by the unlikely duo of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo. After being careful in the opening stages, the Spaniard said he tried to control from the front once he opened up a gap.

“I’m happy, I’m happy to win the race and especially to do it in this way,” he said.

“This was the target, the intention. After Austin mistake, I said I want to arrive in Jerez and try to win in the same way, and we did it. It was passion the race, in the first laps I didn’t have the feeling so I said we wait, I was going wide a little bit in corners a few times. When the tyres start to drop and the bike start to slide a more the bike and the fuel tank was less, then I said ‘okay, now I start to feel like practice’.

“I started to attack, but I was always in control, and then I see that Fabio was coming, then Rins, and then in lap fifteen I just attack one time, just to show the opponents I am here, I then tried to control. I am happy, I am happy with the way the Honda is working, because we fixed many problems this weekend and tomorrow we have an important test tomorrow to continue in this way.”

Speaking of Monday’s test, Marquez said that he’s already taken a sneak peak at Honda’s itinerary for the test, and acknowledged how much work he has ahead of himself.

“HRC is working very hard, I already checked a little bit the items for tomorrow and said we only have one day,” he joked.

“It’s passion, but this is something that motivates me even more. We show that we are there and we are riding very strong, but it’s still not an easy bike. You can check with the other Hondas, we need a little but more feedback with the front tyre.

“But we know and I know that I have the best team and the best bike so the best package.”