Motegi MotoGP Marquez: The words and numbers of the World Champion

Marquez therefore took advantage of the Yamaha disaster to claim a new World Champion title before his time. The fact remains that this consecration is not only due to this Japanese Grand Prix missed by the rivals with the three tuning forks. It is the result of a flawless journey, carried out intelligently, all fueling the figures of a career already impressive at 23 years old.

First the manner. If, last year, the thirsty for victories had drowned in his sole ambition to win, this season, it is a Marquez more thoughtful who delivered his score. Well off to a good start, he was able to move on when his Honda was not up to par and then stepped up when the fruits of HRC's work were ready to be harvested: “ It took me losing a championship to understand that and it's a high price to pay. When I lost my leading position at Le Mans, I swore to myself not to push anymore if I didn't feel it. That's what I did, and it wasn't easy ».

A self-sacrifice marked by points taken in each race contested and rewarded on the Motegi route. A circuit on which he had never before been victorious. That's it, with the title added! “ I'm very happy because it's the first time I've won here and in front of the Honda boss as well. It's a special moment. This is perhaps the title that put the most pressure on me to conquer. But today I was pretty relaxed. I had lunch the same way, and went to the bathroom as usual! When you're nervous, you go more often, right? And then I dedicate this performance to my grandmother who always supported me ».

On his race, he specifies: “ When I saw that Rossi had fallen, I said to myself, come on, I'll give everything for the victory. Then my sign informed me of Lorenzo's fall. I think that straight away, I have never made so many mistakes on my bike! I thought it was impossible to take the title here. I told myself that we hadn't planned anything but the team always believed in me and brought what was needed to celebrate. » Words which show real relief and real pleasure in the outcome. Now, when we look at the driver's statistics, we start to get dizzy.

Marquez is the youngest driver to claim 5 titles and the youngest in history to have collected 3 crowns in the premier category. Better still, at 23 years 242 days, he became the youngest five-time World Champion in front of a certain Valentino Rossi who was there at 24 years 238 days in 2003. Over the last 7 seasons, he has won at least 5 times. A performance only achieved since 1949 by Agostini et Haiwood.

The rest is to match: 55 victories, 64 pole positions, 89 podiums, 48 ​​fastest laps, all in 147 Grands Prix. Which gives us a success rate of 42% in terms of victories in MotoGP and outright 72,4% in terms of podiums in the same category. At only 23 years old, let's remember... And there are still three Grands Prix to compete in 2016.