---
title: "Marquez: It was an important victory"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/09/25/marquez-important-victory/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-09-25T19:18:14Z"
modified: "2016-09-25T19:18:14Z"
---

# Marquez: It was an important victory

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez had marked the Aragon Grand Prix as one where he could fight for the victory at before the season had even started, and he did not disappoint the legion of home supporters that turned up to this weekend’s race.

Marquez was in a class of his own throughout the weekend, demolishing the field in qualifying with a lap six tenths quicker than anyone else’s and threatened to bolt into the distance during the race after demonstrating a hugely quick race pace in FP4.

Worries about the colder temperature and the effect that would have on front tyre choice were, in the end, unfounded as conditions were near perfect when the 23-lap race got underway. Marquez opted for the hard front whilst all but Cal Crutchlow and Maverick Vinales went with the medium.

At the start, Marquez was roughed up by Vinales and Jorge Loreno, and his afternoon nearly took a turn for the worse when he almost tucked the front-end at Turn 7 on lap five. Taking that as the only warning he needed, the Spaniard just took it easy for the next couple of laps and allowed his hard front to come up to working temperature.

Once comfortable on the tyre, Marquez was unstoppable. He made light work of Lorenzo at Turn 15 with 17 laps to go and was gifted second when Vinales ran wide at Turn 1.

Marquez replicated the move he made on Lorenzo on his Yamaha teammate at Turn 15 on lap 12, a pass he later stated was crucial as the Italian had steadily gained on him in the championship standings in previous races.

Once in clear air, Marquez was free to cruise to his fourth win of the year and his first on Spanish soil since Valencia 2014. The win also ties him with Mick Doohan on the all-time winners list on 54 victories, though more importantly to him it sees him now 52 points clear in the standings.

“I’m very happy to have taken the win at a home Grand Prix, and one of my favourite races. I was waiting for this GP, it was a ‘red point’ on the calendar for me, as I saw it as one where I wanted to attack and where I could win the race,” he said.

“It was an important victory, but nothing is finished yet. I said yesterday that something can always happen in a race, and it was a miracle that I didn’t crash today when I almost lost it in turn 7. That was when I decided to relax a little and go back to my mentality from practice of riding precisely and braking in the right places. All this made for a more entertaining race, with many overtaking moves at the start, and a second part in which I was able to open a gap to Valentino, which was important. He had gone several races gaining points on us, and we wanted to stop that trend, because otherwise it would boost his morale and perhaps create doubts for us.

“Now we leave Aragón with a larger advantage and more convinced ahead of the flyaways. I was very happy on the podium, but the most emotional moment for me today was when \[brother\] Alex scored his first Moto2 podium. That was really special for me.”