Honda rider Marc Márquez says he is “back in the championship” fight after taking his fifth consecutive Grand Prix of the Americas victory.
The Spaniard stormed to pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, before eventually moving ahead of his fast-starting team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
Reigning MotoGP champion Márquez entered the weekend 37 points adrift of championship leader Maverick Viñales, having crashed out of the lead at the preceding round in Agrentina.
However, the victory at COTA now moves him to within 18 points of new title leader Valentino Rossi, and he was quick to stress the importance of the win.
“This was a crucial race because after Argentina it was important to come back in the best way, so we are really happy with this result," he explained.
“Although I won, it was difficult, because the temperature was much higher than on Saturday.
“Five minutes before the start, I said to my chief mechanic, 'OK, let's use the hard tyre', because I knew that I would push the medium front tyre a lot.
“In the beginning, I was just trying to understand the limit because I hadn't tried it a lot on Friday.
“I was behind Dani and when I saw that he was struggling a little bit and Valentino was challenging, I said 'time to attack'.
“I was able to win, and I'm happy to be back in the championship.”
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