Marquez Brothers Make GP History
For the first time in the 66-year history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing, two brothers have taken the World Championship in their respective series.
Marc Marquez won the MotoGP World Championship four rounds ago at Motegi, and his younger brother, Alex Marquez, won the Moto3 World Championship Sunday in the brothers’ homeland at Valencia, Spain.
It was Alex’s final-race performance that sealed the deal for the Marquez Brothers to make history together. The youngster had to work hard for his third-place finish, but in the end he was crowned Moto3 Champion in just his third year of GP racing.
In 2010, Alex Marquez, 18, launched his motorcycle-racing career in Spain, racing in the Team Competition Monlau 125cc in the FIM CEV Repsol. That year he finished in 11th place overall. That same year, older brother Marc won the 125cc World Championship.
In 2011, Alex finished the season in second place, and went on to win the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3 title in 2012. Meanwhile he had started to make regular appearances in Grand Prix, debuting with a 12th place finish at Jerez in 2012, finishing sixth in just his third GP at Barcelona-Catalunya and making 11 World Championship appearances that year.
In 2013, Alex Marquez completed his first full season in the World Championship riding a KTM for the Estrella Galicia 0,0 team and in the second half of the season, he started to score podium finishes. That year, Marc earned the MotoGP title in his rookie year.
Alex’s 2013 performance was impressive. A second place at Indy, three consecutive third places at Silverstone, Misano and Aragon and his first victory in Motegi (Japan) in the second-to-last race of the year made Alex the Moto3 Rookie of the Year.
With that resume, Alex came into the 2014 season as a potential World Champion, but there were a number of others, as well, including his teammate Alex Rins, Australian rider Jack Miller and Italian ace Romano Fenati. Alex Marquez also had a new machine to adapt to as his team made the switch from KTM to Honda.
Alex took to the new Honda quickly and in the first round at Qatar, he claimed his first podium of the season – in second place. Nine more podiums followed including three victories and he gained strength in the second half of the season.
With a third place finish in Valencia Alex Marquez clinched the Moto3 title and joined his brother Marc as one of the elite racers in the world.
He moves up to Moto2 in 2015 looking to continue his progress and at some point, he may well be on the MotoGP grid with his brother Marc.
Alex Marquez title winning facts:
- Alex Marquez is the 11th Spanish rider to win the 125cc/Moto3 World title, joining: Angel Nieto (1971/72/79/81/82/83/84), Jorge Martinez (1988), Alex Criville (1989), Emilio Alzamora (1999), Dani Pedrosa (2003), Alvaro Bautista (2006), Julian Simon (2009), Marc Marquez (2010), Nico Terol (2011) and Maverick Viñales (2013).
- Alex Marquez is the first rider to win the lightweight-class World title on a Honda since Thomas Luthi won the 125cc championship in 2005.
- Alex Marquez has won the title after being sixth in the championship standings and 44 points behind the then championship leader, Jack Miller, after the sixth race of the year at Mugello.
Alex Marquez Biography
- Date of birth: 23rd April 1996
- Place of birth: Cervera, Spain
- First Grand Prix: Jerez 2012, Moto3
- First Pole Position: Barcelona-Catalunya 2014, Moto3
- First Podium: Indianapolis 2013, Moto3
- First Win: Motegi 2013, Moto3
- Race starts: 45
- Wins: 4
- Podiums: 15
- Pole Positions: 3
- Fast laps: 7
- World titles: Moto3™ (2014)
- World Championship career:
- 2012: Moto3 – 20th, Suter Honda, 11 race starts, 27 points
- 2013: Moto3 – 4th, KTM, 17 race starts, 213 points
- 2014: Moto3 – World Champion, Honda, 18 race starts, 278 points
