PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Despite a strong start from pole position, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez had a disappointing finish to the Grand Prix of Argentina—crashing out of the race while battling for the lead with Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.
Although it turned out to be a bad day at the office for the back-to-back World Champion, his official statement regarding the incident appears to bear no ill will towards the Italian.
“It’s a shame what happened, because we were having a good race.” Marquez said via a team release. “When he caught me, we fought for a few corners and unfortunately we touched and I crashed. I’ve always said that he’s my idol and my reference, so you always learn things from him. Now we have to think about Jerez and begin to recover points.”
Ultimately, Rossi was able to chase Marquez down because the harder option compound that Rossi chose had more life in the tire for the duration of the race. Marquez went on to explain his decision in choosing the softer option—the hard rear.
“It was interesting, because our tire choice was different from Valentino’s as I felt we were not as competitive on the harder compound,” Marquez said. “The strategy was working out well for us—it’s just a pity about the last two laps. When I saw that he was closing in on me, I decided to conserve the tires a little. On the final laps I went back to riding in the low 1:39s to check that the tires were still in good shape, and knew that we would be fighting to the end.”
The young Spaniard looks to regain some points as the championship heads to Jerez, Spain. Marquez has back-to-back wins at the Jerez circuit during his MotoGP tenure.
