The first double of brothers Marc and Álex Márquez in world championships, at the time in MotoGP and Moto3, dates back to 2014.
The eldest had then surpassed Valentino Rossi of 67 points by starting the season with an incredible series of 10 consecutive victories for his 2nd year in MotoGP.
For the youngest, things had been more complicated because of the fierce opposition of a certain Jack Miller, and Álex had to wait until the final in Valencia to be crowned despite the victory of the Australian who actually lost the title following a controversial maneuver byAlex Marquez on the drying track of Aragón…
In any case, after their double victory at the last Catalan Grand Prix, and for the first time since this prosperous era, we find the two brothers in command of their respective championships, hence the question in the title of this article…
Judging that it is still much too early to talk about it, Alex Marquez, who has just snatched the leadership by 3 points Lorenzo Baldassarri in the intermediate category, does not want to broach the subject and is content to share the joy brought by this 3rd consecutive victory: “I’m the happiest!” Third victory in a row and a leadership position at stake... This success at home is very important, it was a difficult race to control. There was contact at the first corner which caused me to lose a little time. I was able to come back over the laps, I knew that I had to not make any mistakes and stay very consistent to hope to win. I applied this strategy. When I found myself behind Lüthi, I saw that I was a little better than him. That's how I was able to overtake him. We find ourselves at the top of the championship, I'm really happy for the team. »
His team manager, Joan Olivé, is not to be outdone: “Another great day for the team. Third victory in a row for Álex, it’s magnificent. We see that today he manages the tests as well as the race. He is able to make the best use of his tires from start to finish of the race. We are really very happy with the maturity he displays today.”
More precise and obviously knowing him better, his brother Marc takes the analysis a little further: “It's great because as you know, we live together and we train together, and, for example, to compare, I was very happy last year because everything was going well for me, but my brother was a a little more “timid” because he struggled more. I then tried to help him, and today we wake up with a smile every morning because everything is going well. You know, motorcycles are our life. We get up in the morning and we immediately think about motorcycles! Yes, I'm happy for him because he's struggled a lot in the past and now it seems like he's the type of person that when she's confident, she's really good. He is now optimistic and knows he can do it. He does a great job and what I tell him is to have fun. If you have fun, it will make everything easier. And of course, for our family, it’s very good.”
As for his own goal for 2019, Marc Marquez never hid that only the world title interested him. Now 37 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso despite a blank result in Austin, the Catalan driver seems well on his way to achieving his goal but obviously remains very cautious, given the 12 remaining grands prix...
Marc Márquez : “At the moment everything seems easy, but it's not easy because we are attacking. Today I took some risks and almost lost the front at turn 5. Today I drove well but even so there were drivers pushing me behind. And you never know: the championship is very long and we have only done 7 races. I have to continue like this, but of course we are working very well. The whole Repsol Honda team is working in the same direction and we cannot waste time on other things: we only have to work for our goal which is the title. We know that at certain races, we will have drivers, for example like Fabio, who will be very fast. But the most important thing for us is to be consistent on Saturday and Sunday. We are working in this direction.”
Little anecdote, the last time that the Márquez brothers each won their race in Catalonia, they also each won the world title…
