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MotoGP Misano: Marquez used Rossi clash as motivation

MotoGP World Champion and Misano race winner Marc Marquez admitted that he used his clash at the end of qualifying with Valentino Rossi as extra motivation as the Spaniard beat out Fabio Quartararo on the final lap.

Starting from the middle of the second row, Marquez quickly got away with Quartararo and Maverick Vinales, before Marquez and the Frenchman dropped Vinales. Sitting behind the Yamaha man for the entirety of the race, Marquez ended up getting the better of the rookie on the final lap for his seventh win of 2019.

The World Champion admitted that his coming together with Rossi at the end of qualifying, in the Italians back yard was used as extra motivation when pushing for the win.

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“You saw the way to celebrate the victory, first of all I am human, my team tried to keep me down and tried to focus on the championship,” said the 26-year-old.

“But the last two races I lost on the last corner and it’s not the best way for a rider. Maybe today the best thing, or the easiest, was follow Fabio and on the last lap be 0.8 behind and say okay he was faster than me and finish in second place but it’s not my way.

“So, for that reason, I push until the end, I had enough confidence to try again. I know that if I lose again the people will speak again, but I don’t care about this. I just keep pushing and I will try. Unlucky for me you need to try to improve in the race, in the race there are cameras there so if you lose everybody see.

“Yesterday, somebody wake me up and the best way to speak is on the track. I know that here on the mics the battle is lost but on the track is where is my real battle.

“Sometimes you are just there riding the bike, thinking about the championship and my team did always a great job before the race, nice meetings, keeping me calm, reminding the championship is the most important.

“But sometimes it depends on the situation, and you need to show something too. I am human and like a human I can’t always keep calm, but the most important sometimes is to attack in the correct place.”

When asked about the race, Marquez was high in praise for Quartararo, claiming that his time spent at the front of the race, meant he was the best rider of the day.

“Yeah happy for the victory, but maybe the best rider of the race today was Fabio, because he did all the race in front, he was riding in a very good way,” he said.

“I stay behind, behind and I attack in the last lap. We change a little bit the strategy from Silverstone, not because in Silverstone I choose the wrong strategy, but sometimes the championship situation brings to you in a different way, or a different strategy.

“Today we did a different strategy, but because we didn’t have more, I wasn’t able to be in front and have the race pace. But it was there lap four five six, where Fabio was pushing, I was far, there I was taking a lot of risk, but I was able to catch him and happy, a nice victory here in Italy.”

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It was the first time in which Marquez and Quartararo have gone head-to-head in a battle on track in what might end up being a glimpse of the future of MotoGP. When asked about Quartararo, Marquez said: “About this 1-0, 1-1, it’s not the most important, but what is the most important is the championship and we cannot forget that Fabio is a rookie and what he is doing is incredible.

“But today showed to all of us and all of you, because I already knew he had the talent and the mentality to lead the race, to win a race and next year will be a tough contender for the championship.”

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