There was not a moment’s hesitation when the lights went out, Marc Marquez shooting forward on his RC213V and hustling himself into the top five. On lap four of the race Marquez moved past Aleix Espargaro and up into fourth position with Enea Bastianini launching an assault on the eight-time World Champion just a few laps later. Marquez stayed with the Ducati rider until mid-race when Alex Rins slipped past the #93, but Rins would fall on lap 17.
Steady pace in the latter stages of the race saw Marquez gain on Miller in fourth, the pair joined by defending World Champion Joan Mir as they fought it out to the line. A great final half of the lap saw Marquez gain an advantage on the back straight and used the power of his Honda RC213V to fire out of the last corner and lock in fourth place. This is Marquez’s first back-to-back top five finishes since his return from injury. He holds 92 points and ninth in the World Championship standings.
All five Honda RC213V machines finished inside the points at the San Marino Grand Prix. The riders won’t have to wait long before they’re back on track as the Italian circuit will host a two-day test on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Marc Márquez, 4th: “I am really happy with our performance today because honestly speaking I was not expecting this result today! At the start I was calm and honestly not riding very fast, but step by step we went faster and our feeling improved. The key point was staying calm in the first laps and pushing at the end, I’m quite proud about the last part of the race because I brought Mir with me. In practice it was a little different, I was following him, but in the race, he was following me and we caught Jack. In the last lap I didn’t feel like I could fight, but Mir and Miller went wide and I saw my opportunity! It was nice and now we get ready for a really important two-day test here.”
