Marc Marquez started P5 at Aragon after a crash in qualifying, but the Championship leader leaves the venue with a 16 point lead following a fifth win of the year.

It wasn’t easy, however, as the number 93 laid it all on the line and attacked his way through the front group into the lead – managing to stay ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa by just 0.8 seconds over the line.

Moments, wobbles and a few times having to play catch up didn't stop the reigning Champion - who says he started the day with the "mentality to win."

"It’s important to go to Japan with this small advantage. In the beginning I didn’t feel good, but I tried. I was trying to understand what was going on, but then the feeling never came back." Said the Honda rider

"At one point I said I would push, then trying to overtake Valentino I went wide again and lost all the distance – when you do that you stress everything more. When I caught Lorenzo again, I said it was time to push and keep my pace because I saw Dani coming faster and faster."

"On one hand was that the feeling wasn’t good, but then I wanted to win my home race. I took a lot of risk but I started with the mentality to win and it finished well today."

"It’s important because in the Championship we’re leading by 16 and 28 points, and it’s better to have that advantage than not. But it’s more important that since Montmelo, in all conditions, we’ve been on the podium everywhere except Silverstone." He added

"We’ll try to keep our focus for the next races. Motegi in the past was a circuit where I was struggling a bit but last year I felt really good. We’ll see this year, now it’s a question mark. In Austria I expected to struggle, then here I was struggling more than I expected despite the victory."

"You can’t make a mistake or take a zero, but then you also have to take the risk. If I didn’t take the risk, we would have finished third." Concluded Marquez

source: motogp.com