Marquez surprised by return of “old style of Lorenzo”

Marc Marquez says he didn’t expect to see Jorge Lorenzo battling with the front-runners in Jerez but felt his rival's pace and style became a key tool to his victory.

Marquez has taken a 12-point lead in the MotoGP riders’ world championship thanks to his second consecutive win of the year at Jerez following his dominant display in the United States last month.

The Repsol Honda rider carved his way up to second in the opening stages behind early leader Lorenzo and concedes the Ducati rider’s riding style came as a shock finding his path to the front blocked.

Marquez says he was fighting the “old style of Jorge” and saw the opportunity to use it by getting past him early and allowing his rival to cause a gap to form between him and the rest – before the disaster clash between Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa saw all three tumble out of the race.

“I was surprised about Lorenzo as it was like old style of Jorge,” Marquez said. “At the start, he was pushing a lot but he stopped Dani who was my main worry.

“This race he stopped Dani and I was able to overtake Dani, overtake Lorenzo and get away. I realised that it was nearly impossible to overtake Lorenzo. He was braking so late and he was exiting so well from the corners. But then I was a little bit patient.

“When I saw that his tyre started to drop, I thought now it’s time to lead the race and try to open a gap. I was able to open a gap, step by step.”

Marquez’s victory, coupled with the crashes by key title rivals, sees the defending MotoGP world champion open up a useful points lead after just four races and entering the European stint of the campaign.

While delighted with the turnaround in recent results, the four-time MotoGP world champion says it wasn’t the perfect race and is wary of the pace his rivals have produced at the Spanish track.

“I struggled a little bit as we are missing something in the front and I want to try something tomorrow [at the Jerez test] because I crashed three times,” he said. “I’m missing something and I want to understand.

“With the other riders today crashing I’ve increase a lot the advantage, and this is good for us, but as I said before Qatar, Johann this year will be strong, Suzuki will be in the podium, so more or less the prediction is there.

“I will say that Ducati’s will be strong because they were close in this circuit, so they will be strong in the other parts of the championship. Only four races with many, many races to go.”

Marquez’s triumph marks his first victory at Jerez since 2014 with his win becoming the Repsol Honda riders’ first back-to-back successes since the Misano and Aragon races last year.