Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez claimed his 12th win of the season at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, equaling Mick Doohan’s record of most wins in a season.
Having set a new circuit record to claim pole position, Marquez had a difficult start to the race, running wide at Turn 1. The 2014 MotoGP™ World Champion was down as low as ninth before he began to rapidly pass other riders. By lap two he was already in third position.
The subsequent laps saw the Honda rider sit behind the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valeinto Rossi until the tenth lap. Rossi passed his teammate and allowed Marquez through with him, from here it was a battle between the two.
Lap 11 saw Marquez take the lead, Rossi followed him closely for the remainder of the race but the Spaniard’s pace on used tyres was too much. Rossi finished 2.445s behind Marquez as the Spaniard claimed his first victory since Silverstone and ended Yamaha’s streak of wins.
The result is Marquez’s 12th victory of the season, equaling Doohan’s premier class record. Valencia will give Marquez a chance to break yet another record in his incredible second MotoGP season.
A beaming Marquez said, “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 tyre 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.”
“I’ve equalled Mick Doohan’s record, 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) at Valencia,” he added.
