MotoGP: Marquez wants to "wrap up the title race as soon as possible"
Having secured his 11th victory of the season at last Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix, Ducati's six-time world champion Marc Márquez admitted that Aprilia rival Marco Bezzecchi kept him honest all through the race.
Following his mistake in Saturday's Sprint that saw him crash out of the lead, Marc Márquez bounced back last Sunday to triumph in great fashion at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in the 27-lap Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera.
Márquez had an excellent start from row two, moving up to second place at the first corner. On lap twelve, Marc took the race lead and then defended it with a series of fastest laps in the closing stages – including one on the final lap – to cross the line as the winner.
With his 11th victory in 2025, Márquez has increased his tally to 512 points, maintaining a 182-point advantage over his brother Alex Márquez.
Reflecting on his hard-fought victory at the Misano circuit, Márquez admitted that Aprilia rival Marco Bezzecchi kept him honest all through the race.
“It wasn’t easy to keep the situation under control. It was one of the fastest races of the season: Bezzecchi was pushing very hard and was really quick
" We tried to manage the situation as best we could and even set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. I’m happy because after yesterday’s mistake, we had to make amends.
"We’ll approach Motegi the same way: maintaining the same performance level we’ve shown in all these races. There are six events left in the season, but we want to wrap up the title race as soon as possible," concluded the Spaniard.
His team-mate Francesco Bagnaia maintained his position at the start and rode a lonely race, but he looked on course to secure some vital points. However, the Italian crashed at Turn 14 on Lap 9, which means that he left Misano empty handed which happened to him for the second time this season following his disastrous weekend at Le Mans.
“I was trying to follow Diggia, then the crash happened. We need to carefully analyse what happened, especially ahead of tomorrow’s test, which will be extremely important to help us find the right direction.
"Of course, there’s disappointment for the crash, but we’ll keep working to solve these issues, which I’ve been carrying for several races now, and to approach the long Asian stretch in the best way possible," said Bagnaia.
