Marquez: This is a special victory

Honda's Marc Marquez sets fastest lap of race on his final circuit to overhaul Jorge Lorenzo for his maiden MotoGP win at Phillip Island and his 50th career GP success.

Kyle White

18 Oct 2015

Marc Marquez marked his 50th career GP victory with a sensational final-lap charge to deny Jorge Lorenzo at Phillip Island and secure his maiden MotoGP success at the legendary Australian circuit.

The Repsol Honda rider passed Ducati's Andrea Iannone at turn 2 on the final lap before slashing Lorenzo's advantage of 0.8 seconds to set up a race-winning pass at MG, recording the fastest lap of the race in 1m 29.280s to finally end his MotoGP hoodoo at Phillip Island, where he had failed to complete the race in 2013 and 2014.

Marquez, who has now won at every circuit with the exception of Motegi, said: "In the beginning it was difficult especially to find the front feeling but then I come back, I tried to catch Jorge and I overtake him and I tried to push, but then I saw that the front tyre was moving a lot with this temperature and it was time to cool down again.

"I tried to manage [the tyre] until the end but I had some moments; my plan was always in the last few laps to try to push a bit more but then [Andrea] Iannone and Valentino [Rossi] overtook me and it was difficult to manage.

"Honestly, I didn't believe that I would arrive to Jorge but I pushed my 100 per-cent on the last lap and in the end it was a great victory for me, for the team, for Honda and especially for everybody, because after a difficult season it's great to be on top."

Marquez described his blistering final lap as similar to a qualifying attack as he bridged an unlikely deficit to Lorenzo.

"It was like a qualifying practice lap and when I took Andrea in the first corner then I pushed my 100 per-cent, especially on T4 I braked really deep and I caught a lot of metres on Jorge, so I say, 'OK, maybe it is possible'," said Marquez.

"I pushed and pushed and pushed and when I saw in turn 10 that I was behind him really close, I say, 'OK, I will try but only if I see clear', and I released the brakes and I was happy when I crossed the line in the first place.

"Fifty wins is a lot and this is really special and to get the 50th victory with this kind of race is more special; I will try to draw my level and try to win more times but especially try to fight for the title many times."