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The San Marino Grand Prix saw Marc Márquez once again on the highest step of the podium. It was the seventh victory of 2019 for the Repsol Honda rider, and allows him to come into the fourteenth race of the year this weekend with 250 points and a 93-point advantage over his nearest rival -with only 150 still in play.
For Alberto Puig, Sunday’s race was an example of how to be a champion: Taking advantage of chances to claim wins. The Repsol Honda Team Manager also appreciated the improvement in fitness experienced by Jorge Lorenzo, who had less pain in his back and heads to Aragón with the aim of taking another step forward.
[Question] What was the strategy for the Misano race?
[Answer] We knew the Yamaha riders would be fast. They had been strong all weekend and with Marc not on the front row, we thought it might give them a chance to pull away at the beginning of the race and it’s what happened. Viñales and Quartararo were very fast and Marc managed to follow them after a good start.
Then when Quartararo began to escape, Marc overtook Viñales and followed him immediately. Marc spent the race behind Fabio, studying his weak points. It was very clever not to overtake and instead he waited for the best moment at the end. Fabio was very strong in the very fast corners, and Marc knew this. There was a strategy and it went well for a great win.
[Q] Positive points and negative points after the race?
[A] The positive is certainly the victory. Now we are going to Aragón, where we will try to win again, this is our target. This is the only way to one day become champions. I think the most conservative way to win a title is to win races by taking chances when you can. Aragón is a good track for Marc and for our bike, let’s see what the weather will do. But we are going to MotorLand trying to win, not thinking about a podium. If we can’t win, then we cannot win but we will certainly be working towards this.
[Q] What was the view from the pit wall during the race?
[A] It was quite exciting because the excitement from Quartararo and Marc was right there all race. You could clearly see that Fabio wanted to win the race, not giving away anything at all to Marc. He was strong and this is the type of race that you know you can win, but also there is a risk you can crash because contact is very easy at the end of the race when two riders are pushing at the limit. Fortunately Márquez managed a good move and won the race with a great final lap.
[Q] What about Jorge Lorenzo in Misano?
[A] We saw that we were correct in deciding to stop his test in Misano early. He had two weeks to rest and here Jorge could race and get some points. Of course he is not at the level that he or us expect, but we have seen some progress.
He was in less pain, which is very positive. It gives us some hope that in MotorLand he can feel stronger and therefore he will be faster. This is a step for Jorge and now going to Aragón, a track that he likes, we hope the progression is there also so he can keep building.