Marc Marquez has praised a “very special” Gigi Dall’Igna after he took the 100th MotoGP victory under the Ducati General Manager at Motegi.
Marquez claimed a sprint-race double over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, with his 37-point maximum cutting the gap to Jorge Martin in the championship to just two points.
The Ducati rider also helped the manufacturer reach a milestone, as it recorded it’s 100th victory in the premier class under General Manager Dall’Igna.
Dall’Igna has helped steer the Ducati project since joining the Bologna factory in 2013 and has been credited with building some of the greatest machines in MotoGP history – including the dominant GP24 that won a record percentage of races in the modern era.
Marquez has the second-highest number of wins under Dall’Igna’s premiership with 20, behind team-mate Francesco Bagnaia’s 31.
“Of course, now I’m enjoying what Gigi builds with all his staff because for one person it’s impossible,” Marquez told MotoGP.com.
“But Gigi creates a good team, and now I’m enjoying the work that he has done since he joined Ducati. A lot of experience, a very clever engineer and very special.”
“[I’m] super happy for the 37 points because it was the target this weekend and we achieve it. It was a tough race, especially the first laps behind Jorge, and then since I lead the race I tried to control the pace.
“When Jorge was coming closer, I just pushed more and every lap just controlled the race pace as I was and I achieved the 37 points.”
Marc Marquez finds ‘sweet feeling’ to take maximum Motegi MotoGP points haul
Marquez looked to respond to losing his brief championship lead after the Austrian Grand Prix, and responded by taking a double victory.
The nine-time World Champion admitted he found a sweet feeling with the hard Michelin tyre – which most riders elected to use after tyre problems from the sprint – and managed the pace after passing Martin for the race lead and eventual victory.
“It’s never easy, but since the sprint race, the feeling with the bike was sweet, as we saw in the morning warm-up,” Marquez said.
“I was able to be very constant, precise and here [the bike] works well, let’s see in the next circuits.”
Marquez previously admitted that he’d finally found some feeling that he had been missing from his GP26 package after taking a maximum points haul from his home race at Aragon.
After a disappointing Austria, compounded by a brake issue, Marquez was back on form and believed he showed his true form without mechanical hindrance.
“Since Aragon, the feeling has been very good with the bike, always able to understand what I need to do.
“It’s true that in Austria, I had a brake problem but again, here, without problems, I was able to be competitive and fight with the top guys that are very fast.”
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