MotoGP: Marquez down but not out after engine failure

Marc Marquez might have been down but he’s not out following yesterday’s disappointing British Grand Prix for the Repsol Honda rider, when a rare blown engine ended any hopes he had of maintaining his championship lead.

Battling for the lead for most of the race, the Spaniard suffered a rare engine issue on his RC213V to deliver his first ever technical DNF in the premier class – but says that his safety net means that he can still be in championship contention despite handing over the lead to Andrea Dovizioso.

“Today was really unlucky, as I was feeling very good on the bike and was there with the others, just trying to manage the race and tyres, especially the front as the temperature was higher than yesterday and I wanted to save it so to attack in the end. I had already seen that Dovi had something more than Viñales and Rossi, but I thought I could try and fight with him.

“So, everything was going well when I suddenly had a problem with the engine at the end of the straight. It’s a shame of course but that’s something that can happen in racing, and it was the first time for me with Honda. The positives are that we were fast here, as we have been at other tracks, and that we’re still there in the Championship. Zero points today, but I’m still feeling good with the bike and am looking forward to the next races.”

And despite coming home in seventh, it wasn’t a much better race result for teammate Dani Pedrosa, who struggled throughout the weekend with issues on the bumpy F1 track.

“The whole weekend has been quite difficult for us at this track, but the team tried to give me the best bike possible and I tried to do my best in the race. I really gave it my all and actually my pace was better than in the practices, almost one second faster compared to the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to stay with the front group, but I’ll take the positive part—the fact that we managed to improve a little. We have the same gap to the top in the Championship, so we’ll put this race behind us and work to be stronger and to fight at the front in the next races.”