English
Italiano
Like the first three races of the year, the Argentine Grand Prix proved to be a family affair between the two brothers, Marc and Alex Marquez. With the elder of the two Catalan riders completing his second perfect weekend, taking his fourth consecutive triumph ahead of the Team Gresini man. It was another testament to the strength and cunning of the 32-year-old, who left his brother to lead much of the GP, before launching the decisive attack to achieve his 90th career victory and equal compatriot Angel Nieto's record, becoming the third most successful rider ever.
"It's impressive, 90 victories is a lot and and this year there is still room to get more," Dani Pedrosa remarked on DAZN, explaining why Marc's race strategy reminded him just what the winner of 12+1 world titles used to adopt: "Angel used to talk about his races and say the same thing: 'I would get behind and let the race flow,' and in the last laps he would overtake. In the two races we saw on Sunday Marc did the same thing."
The eight-time world champion's record of wins impressed the KTM test rider, who is convinced that triple digits is an approachable goal already in his first year in Red: "It's been 15 years since 2010. I don't know what the winning percentage is, but I would say he has won half the races or more. So, Marc's numbers are extraordinary, and this year, with all the races still to come, if he does a very good season, he can approach 100."
At the end of the event at Termas de Rio Hondo, Pedrosa also wanted to praise the performance of Alex Marquez, who was able to give his brother a run for his money until the checkered flag.
"I was pleasantly surprised by Alex, because he really gave it his all. Even when Marc made a mistake, Alex took the lead in the race," he commented, "There was a moment when it looked like Marc had him and was about to pass him with seven or eight laps to go, but then Alex unleashed an impressive pace, set a new circuit record, and took another three or four tenths off his brother and made life difficult for him.
More in the shadows so far, however, was the other Ducati factory rider, Francesco Bagnaia, who remained just off the podium in the South American Grand Prix.
"Maybe it hasn't been an ideal World Championship for him. As we saw Marc had two perfect weekends, and he also had to see other riders get between them, losing points. Obviously better times will come for Pecco, where he can win races, Sprints and take pole positions," assured the Spanish former rider.
"What will have to be seen at that point is whether there will actually be any riders between him and Marquez, to counterbalance the points Pecco has lost in these two races. On the other hand, you also have to see the positives. In the past, Pecco has crashed and made some mistakes. Instead now we have seen that he has finished both Sprints and both Grands Prix, he has taken points and hopefully he can improve his set-up in the near future and be more competitive in the next races," Pedrosa concluded. "I would say from Austin onwards, but we know that Austin is another circuit where Marc is very strong and we will see if Pecco can recover a little bit from this situation."
