- Chronicle: Untouchable Marquez: Viñales tries to beat him and goes to the ground
He has enjoyed so many celebrations that Marc Márquez already confuses the dances. As he crosses the finish line of Philip Island he starts to lie on his Honda, suddenly stops for a second and reverts to an undefined choreography, as indefinite as the previous one. At the most it looked like an inflatable doll of those who stood behind the football goals. His fifth consecutive victory, the eleventh of the season, already has 135 points over the second in the World Cup ... his superiority yesterday became hyperbole, but the most interesting thing was not his arrhythmic celebration, he was a pilot who looked there, in the same plane, at the end of the straight: just when Márquez finished the race, his teammate Jorge Lorenzo began his last lap.
Never in the history of MotoGP, nor in the long twilight of Giacomo Agostini , nor in the days of Valentino Rossi in Ducati, had something similar been seen: a champion of such a wide record, with three World Cups in his house, wandering on the asphalt . Many were the previous races in which their performance was poor - in fact all this season - but in no way was it so much. Not only did he finish last and as the only driver out of the points, he finished more than a minute from Marquez, more than 40 seconds from a Johann Zarco newcomer to Honda and more than 20 seconds from the penultimate, the modest Hafizh Syahrin. If Márquez's victory was the exaggeration of his domain, Lorenzo's defeat was the apotheosis of disability.
It was a call for help, but at this point, who is going to help you? In the dome of Honda they have already lost hope in their improvement and in their own garage the atmosphere is rarefied. In recent weeks Lorenzo's environment has hinted that next year he will have a new technical boss, who will no longer be in the hands of a Ramón Aurín who inherited from Dani Pedrosa , but it remains to be seen if Honda allows him to create a new group of your trust The brand, in reality, would prefer his surrender, negotiate during the winter the termination of his contract and a more pleasant 2020 season with Zarco as Márquez's partner. The feeling left by Lorenzo, that the Honda is a problematic motorcycle, is a nuisance in the middle of one of the most victorious times in the history of the Japanese factory.
Pain for Honda: also economical
Meanwhile, Lorenzo has only his indomitable character. Whatever happens, the three-time MotoGP champion almost never admits his crisis and camouflages himself in physical or technical problems. According to his statements, his performance on Philip Island, where not only Marquez won, but another Honda driver, Cal Crutchlow , finished second, is the fault of his back. «It happened, more or less, what I expected. It was very windy and had to have the head more advanced, closer to the front wheel, the fairing, to try not to influence the stability of the front wheel. That forced me to force my neck and the part that was injured. I suffered a lot and not just physically. Throughout the weekend I had no good feelings or security. I hope and trust that it was only in this circuit, next week in Sepang I hope to return to the level where I was in the last 10 laps in Motegi », was justified.
Without scoring in the last four races - not even in Motegi, where he left satisfied - his nineteenth place in the World Cup, just ahead of Tito Rabat , Syahrin and Karel Abraham , is already even a pain for Honda beyond competitive, also economically. After securing the Drivers 'World Championship and the Constructors' World Championship thanks to Márquez's excellence, the World Teams can escape to the Japanese factory because of Lorenzo. Repsol Honda is only one point away from the Ducati Team, but in the remaining two races Márquez will not be able to overcome only that little difference. Both Sepang, where he won in 2016 and 2017, and Cheste, where he won in 2018, are conducive circuits for Andrea Dovizioso and, despite his gray season finale, both he and his partner Danilo Petrucci will end up, in total safety, ahead of Lawrence.
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