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Spain’s defending MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez has opened up a lead of 72 points in the 2018 series after winning a thriller at Aragon overnight.

But the Honda man is cautions against complacency.

He is on the cusp of a fifth MotoGP world title but the Honda rider says his job is far from over, despite leading the championship by such a solid margin after his win at this 14th round of 19 in the series.

Marquez took victory at the Aragon track in Spain for his first premier class win since the German Grand Prix in July, stretching his advantage at the top over Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, who finished as the runner-up.

However, the reigning champion has dismissed suggestions a fifth title is now safely in the bag.

“No, it’s not finished yet. Since I don’t have the points that say they cannot overtake me on the championship, it is not finished. Now, we can do this mistake – start to think that it is already there,” Marquez said.

“In 2014, I was thinking already of the championship at Misano, here and I was pushing too much and I crashed two races in a row – big mistake. We need to be focused and we need to keep working because in MotoGP everything can happen: mechanical, human mistake, weather conditions, injuries – you never know, so we need to keep focused to work hard on Tuesday because we have a test here. We will try to improve, try to keep focus and Thailand will be another race,” he added.

“We will take the same risks; I always say I start the weekend with the mentality to win on Sunday, and then during Sunday, I see if I can win or if I need to be on the podium.”

After halting Ducati’s recent run of success, Marquez says he is determined to work with Honda to ensure he is the ‘best rider on the best bike’ in 2019.

“I said yesterday that (Jorge) Lorenzo and Dovi were the two guys with the more rhythm, but in this race Dovi was faster than Lorenzo, especially with the used tyre. He was able to be in ’48 when he want in the practice, Dovi, but Lorenzo was struggling more with the used tyres. But yeah, the thing is with the hard, for riding style with our bike, I wasn’t feeling comfortable, especially on entry to the corner,” said Marquez.

“I was using too much the front, so Ducatis ride in another way, they don’t lean the bike – they just use the drive. It is another kind of riding style, another kind of motorbike, but in the end the lap time is the same one, so for that reason the battles, the fights, are really nice to see because he was very strong in one part of the track and I was very strong in another part of the track.

“In the end the compromise was exactly the same lap time,” he added. “This is good, because it means for next year we have to work hard, and now we have time to work, so me and Honda want to improve to be the best bike and the best rider.”

Marquez said he can still improve as a rider and warned there is no room for complacency in MotoGP.

“Of course I can improve, I am human so I can improve and every year you learn something. You need to improve and last year I learned many things from following Dovi, about managing the situations,” he said.

“This year I tried to copy those things and we can improve these things for next year, but we need to improve together – the team can improve and I can improve. This is the good thing in the sport, because if you don’t improve or find something different, it will be tough.”

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RESULTS & STANDINGS:

Aragon MotoGP race, round 14 of 19:

  1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 41m 55.949s
  2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP18) 41m 56.597s
  3. Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 41m 57.208s
  4. Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 41m 58.587s
  5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 42m 1.223s
  6. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 42m 5.345s
  7. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18) 42m 10.234s
  8. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 42m 11.148s
  9. Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP17) 42m 12.324s
  10. Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 42m 18.406s
  11. Franco Morbidelli ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 42m 22.974s
  12. Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 42m 23.906s
  13. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 42m 24.770s
  14. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 42m 28.294s
  15. Karel Abraham CZE Angel Nieto Team (GP16) 42m 33.588s
  16. Scott Redding GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 42m 35.534s
  17. Thomas Luthi SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 42m 36.712s
  18. Hafizh Syahrin MAL Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 42m 52.245s
  19. Xavier Simeon ESP Reale Avintia (GP17) 42m 54.930s
  20. Jordi Torres SPA Reale Avintia (GP16) 42m 55.462s

Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) DNF

Alvaro Bautista ESP Angel Nieto Team (GP17) DNF

Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP18) DNF

 

World Championship standings:

  1. Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 246 points
  2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP18) 174 points (-72)
  3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 159 points (-87)
  4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Ducati Team (GP18) 130 points (-116)
  5. Maverick Viñales SPA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 130 points (-116)
  6. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 119 points (-127)
  7. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18) 119 points (-127)
  8. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 112 points (-134)
  9. Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 108 points (-138)
  10. Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 92 points (-154)
  11. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 87 points (-159)
  12. Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP17) 68 points (-178)
  13. Alvaro Bautista SPA Angel Nieto Team (GP17) 64 points (-182)
  14. Tito Rabat SPA Reale Avintia (GP17) 35 points (-211)
  15. Pol Espargaro SPA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 32 points (-214)
  16. Franco Morbidelli ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 31 points (-215)
  17. Aleix Espargaro SPA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 29 points (-217)
  18. Hafizh Syahrin MAL Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 24 points (-222)
  19. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 18 points (-228)
  20. Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 18 points (-228)
  21. Scott Redding GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 12 points (-234)
  22. Mika Kallio FIN Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 6 points (-240)
  23. Karel Abraham CZE Angel Nieto Team (GP16) 5 points (-241)
  24. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP18) 1 points (-245)

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