Marquez: Angry to lose at last corner again, Dovi defeat was worse

Marc Marquez concedes he’s angry to lose a second consecutive race at the final corner but accepts these defeats have boosted his MotoGP world title chances as he takes control with a 78-point lead in the standings.

After being beaten by Andrea Dovizioso in a final corner scrap at the Austrian MotoGP last time out, Marquez suffered the same fate at Silverstone but this time to Alex Rins.

Marquez: Angry to lose at last corner again, Dovi defeat was worse

Marc Marquez concedes he’s angry to lose a second consecutive race at the final corner but accepts these defeats have boosted his MotoGP world title chances as he takes control with a 78-point lead in the standings.

After being beaten by Andrea Dovizioso in a final corner scrap at the Austrian MotoGP last time out, Marquez suffered the same fate at Silverstone but this time to Alex Rins.

Under constant pressure from the Suzuki rider over the closing laps at the British round, Rins pulled off a stunning charge up the inside of Marquez at the final corner as the Repsol Honda rider was forced to ease off as he was sliding under acceleration to the chequered flag.

While admitting the pain of two straight defeats had been tough to take, he was eager to focus on the boost he’s gained in the MotoGP world title fight as Dovizioso was accidentally taken out by Fabio Quartararo’s Petronas Yamaha in an opening corner clash.

“I have the mentality of a winner, and if I lose in the PlayStation I will be angry. So of course I'm angry to lose in the last corner,” Marquez said.

“It’s in a circuit that we struggle. We can say that we are in the worst part of the championship, in the worst moment because two consecutive races with the worst result in the calendar, second place.

“But it’s not my goal now to win races. My goal is to win the championship. With this kind of strategy we are increasing that advantage and this is the most important.”

Asked which defeat was more painful to him, Marquez picked Dovizioso’s win in Austria given he is his main MotoGP title rival.

“Today it hurts because it’s the same way, more or less, but I increased 20 points on my advantage in the championship. So two weeks ago was worse,” he said.

Knowing he didn’t have a clear pace advantage over Rins with his tyre life fading, as well as fuel consumption concerns which resulted in Marquez running out of fuel on the cool down lap, the Repsol Honda rider says he rode conservatively to maximise his points haul rather than take risks to win.

“It was difficult to defend because I didn’t know his weak points. But when I tried to do my strategy in the middle of the race to follow him for some laps to save some tyre, to save some fuel and to know where he was struggling, he closed in a little bit more,” the seven-time world champion explained.

“Then we lost maybe one second in one lap and I saw that Maverick [Vinales] was coming. So I said, ‘okay, I don’t care about the victory. I care only about the points.’”

“I knew that if I stayed there, I could take only 16 points in the race. It was my strategy in 2017 and 2016 to stay behind and attack in the last five laps as you have a better tyre [management].

“But now I’m in a different situation in the championship. To win the final battle, you need to lose some battles. Today was very, very close.”

With Marquez taking second place, coupled with Dovizioso’s DNF, the defending MotoGP world champion holds a points advantage worth more than three race wins to put him as overwhelming favourite to retain his crown with seven rounds remaining.

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