Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa scored the team's third double-podium finish of the 2017 season by finishing in second and third position, respectively, in scorching-hot conditions in Catalonia on Sunday.
It was a very positive result that allowed Marc to move up in the Championship standings to third, just 23 points off the top.
With air temperature at 33° C and a track temperature of 54° C, conditions were very tough on tyres. Marc got off well at the start and rode at the front for the entire race. He took the lead on lap six before being passed by his teammate and Dovizioso on lap eight. Dani led for a further nine laps before being passed by the Italian, who ultimately went on to win the race.
Marc moved to second on lap 18 and pushed hard to try and stay close to the leader, but like his teammate, finally settled to keep his hard-earned podium finish, which brought his career tally to the symbolic total of 93.
“I'm really happy with how this weekend ended because with five crashes, four yesterday and one this morning, the situation was quite tough mentally,” Marquez said. “Anyway, my team helped me a lot to regain confidence in myself and in the bike. Before the race I said to myself that I was the same Marc as last year and that my style is to always keep pushing and never give up, something I think makes the difference sometimes.”
“So I started the race with victory as a target. At the start I was really lucky when Petrucci hit me, as the contact was completely lateral; otherwise it would have been a disaster. From then on I tried to remain focused and calm and when I finally passed Dani for second place, I tried to push to close on Dovi. In a couple of laps I realized that I couldn't, that today was Dovi's day, so I settled for second. The Championship is kind of a rollercoaster so we don't really know what to expect from race to race. We must only think about ourselves, keep the concentration high, and try and give 100%.”
