Marc Marquez said he was over the moon to defeat expected pace-setters Yamaha to win the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.
Yamaha were anticipated to have the most competitive package at the 4.2km Misano venue, mainly due to its high frequency of mid/high-speed corners and relatively short straights.
This was further bored out as the Japanese factories bikes led three of the four practice sessions, with Maverick Vinales later securing pole position on the factory machine.
Marquez looked to at least have equal pace to Vinales and Quartararo in particular though, as proven by the Honda man topping FP4 and looking threatening for a pole position challenge until he lost his final lap after a heated exchange with Valentino Rossi.
Marquez quickly made his way forward in the race too, passing Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi early on before taking Vinales and closing down leader Quartararo in short order.
He then shadowed the Frenchman for the remainder of the Italian contest before coming on top of the pairs final lap duel, with the four Yamaha’s completing the top five behind.
Marquez was complimentary towards rookie Quartararo following the race, and admitted that he thought about not attacking during the race due to him being considerably ahead of nearest championship rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Alex Rins.
“I was thinking it may not be necessary to try (to win) because Dovizioso was far away and Rins was out of the race, but I knew I wouldn’t sleep well if I didn’t try and this time it was possible,” said Marquez.
“This is a Yamaha circuit, as you can see with them completing the top five, but we are there to fight one more time.
“He (Quartararo) did a great race, he was very fast and very consistent but it was the opposite to Silverstone.
“I followed and attacked at the end, but he was riding really well and after the way the last two races have gone with me losing them at the last corner I was incredibly happy and celebrated hard because of that.
“If I had gone earlier Fabio would have followed me, and then maybe Maverick would have caught us, but at Silverstone my championship lead was smaller so my mind was going in a different way.
“Because my lead is bigger I could play around and try more things and in the end I attacked only on the last lap, I was there throughout the last five laps but I chose to wait until the final one because I knew that was my best chance to win.”
Marquez hinted that his spat with Rossi at the end of yesterdays qualifying session fuelled his motivation to win.
“Also today I had extra motivation to win as someone woke me up, and the best way to react is on the circuit.”
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