Marquez passes Doohan as Honda’s most successful premier class rider with record breaking 55th win

A hard-fought victory at the Australian Grand Prix cemented yet another record for eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez as he becomes Honda’s most successful rider in history.

During Honda’s home race at the Japanese Grand Prix, Marc Marquez joined mighty Mick Doohan and former team-mate Dani Pedrosa as one of just three riders to win 54 Grand Prix races on Honda machinery. Now just a week later, the Repsol Honda Team rider raises the bar once again, clinching victory at Phillip Island for a record-breaking 55th premier class win on the Honda RC213V.

Since 1998, Australia’s Mick Doohan has held the honour of being Honda’s most successful rider after taking his 54th win at the Argentine Grand Prix as he celebrated his fifth straight premier class title on the NSR500.

Doohan’s records and results stood as the standard for Honda riders for almost two decades after the Australian surpassed the feats of Freddie Spencer from the 80s.

His first victory in 2013 at Austin saw him beat fellow Honda legend Freddie Spencer’s 30-year old record as the youngest premier class Grand Prix winner.

From his 125 premier class starts, Marc Marquez has taken to the top step of the podium 55 times and has finished on the podium in 75 per cent of the races since his 2013 MotoGP debut.

Only Valentino Rossi (89) and Giacomo Agostini (68) have more premier class victories to their names than the 26-year-old from Cervera.

2019 has also seen Honda take their 300th premier class win, Marc Marquez taking victory in France, continuing the story of Honda’s premier class success which began in 1966 with Jim Redman, who won a total of 45 races for Honda.

Alongside holding the win record for Honda riders in the premier class, Marquez is also the most successful Honda rider in terms of premier class World Championships with six titles and holds the outright pole position record in the premier class with 62 – four more than Mick Doohan.

Marquez needs just nine more podium finishes to equal Pedrosa’s record 112 premier class podiums on Honda machinery.

With two races still remaining in 2019, Marc Marquez (375 points) is just nine points away from surpassing Jorge Lorenzo’s record 383 points from a single premier class season.

Source: MCNews.com.au