Marc Marquez ‘most important rider ever’, Ducati says as title chance looms

Marc Marquez has been described as “one of the most important riders ever” by Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi, following his MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix victory.

The 33-year-old Spaniard came from second on the grid to take the lead from polesitter Alex Marquez on the run to Turn 1 at the start of Sunday’s 20-lap Sepang race.

He resisted an early attack at Turn 4 to hold onto his lead, which he would swell to over four seconds in a dominant display.

Marc Marquez now has seven grand prix wins for the season and holds a 44-point lead in the standings going to Qatar next week.

“He trusts the team to believe in it”

As such, Marquez goes to Qatar with his first chance to win an eighth MotoGP title if he ends the weekend with a 74-point advantage in the standings.

Commenting on Marquez’s race and his title chances, Tardozzi told the MotoGP world feed: “I think that Marc did a fantastic race; he was so clever from the beginning.

“[He was] fast, he was managing the rear tyre in a perfect way.

“We saw that [Marco] Bezzecchi, in the end, had several problems.

“But I think that we can really say that he is one of the most important riders ever.

“We know Marc’s head, we know how he trusts, how he pushes us, the team, to believe in it.

“He was the first, and Gigi [Dall’Igna] and the engineers did the same.

“And I think that’s the most important thing - how close the rider is to the team.”

Is it all over for Aprilia?

Marquez’s chief title rival Jorge Martin withdrew from the Malaysian Grand Prix after suffering a wrist fracture last week at Phillip Island.

Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t match Marquez’s pace this weekend, with a late mistake in the grand prix dropping the Italian to fifth.

He is now 67 points behind Marquez in the standings, with the Spaniard 102 adrift of the Italian after the Italian Grand Prix in May.

“I mean, when it’s the day, it’s the day, and you must do it,” Marquez said in parc ferme of his race.

“I was super concentrated during all the weekend; in FP1, I went out like it was a time attack. And then I tried to find the limits in the practices, because it’s time to take a risk.

“We did it and we did a perfect race. So, super happy. But my mentality cannot change: keep focused, keep pushing.

“There are not many races to go, but there are many moments to go. So, we must be super concentrated.”