MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy: Marc Marquez revelled in the rain which helped him win Sunday's San Marino MotoGP as weather confusion allowed Francesco Bagnaia to slash the Jorge Martin's championship lead.
After going three years without a GP win Spaniard Marquez won his second in as many weeks, finishing over three seconds ahead of pole-sitter Bagnaia after bursting through from ninth on the starting grid, grabbing the lead during the brief time the surface was wet.
Gresini rider was delighted a light, brief shower which coated the "Marco Simoncelli" circuit in Misano Adriatico and allowed him to move to within 53 points of Martin, whose gamble to pit for rain tyres damaged his bid for a first MotoGP title.
"When it started to drop some water on the screen that is when I decided to attack, or to take more risk. In one lap I passed five riders and I was able to lead the race," Marquez told reporters.
Marquez added that he "decided to follow the local guy", Bagnaia, and not pit to change his tyres.
"The local guy decided to stay out, so they know better than me," said Marquez.
Martin admitted he made a big mistake when he pitted with 20 laps remaining to change his bike in the hope that he would have the better of it on a wet track.
But Martin, who said he didn't speak to his team about the weather, was the only one of the title contenders to do so and the rain, which was forecast to fall heavily in the afternoon, slackened almost as soon as he exited the pit.
The 26-year-old then pitted again to get back on his first bike. The two switches left the Pramac rider a lap behind his title rivals. He finished way back in 15th.
After storming to Saturday's sprint, Martin picked up just one point on Sunday.
"I didn't do the right strategy, that's for sure. Maybe I was thinking more about the race and not about the championship so I thought that for winning the race it was better to stop," Martin told reporters.
"I think if it (the weather) kept the same as it was I would have won but from one lap to another one it stopped... at least I got one point."
The primary beneficiary of Martin's mistake was reigning champion Bagnaia, who is now only seven points behind Martin in the championship standings with seven GPs remaining.
"As soon as it started to rain I saw Jorge enter the pit, I said 'I don't need to take any risk, he will not take any points'," said Ducati rider Bagnaia who recovered from his initial disappointment of being outclassed on his home track by Marquez.
"I was sure it was some spit of rain and, apart from that, I just tried to be competitive when it started to rain.
"I saw that Marc was arriving and he is the bravest in these conditions. When he overtook me, I tried to overtake him back but I didn't have the chance to do it."
Bagnaia's bid to catch Martin will be further because this weekend was the first of two in a row at Misano, as the circuit is being used later in September for the Emilia Romagna GP which replaces a cancelled race in Kazakhstan.
Bagnaia rode all weekend on painkillers for injuries to his shoulder, neck and collarbone suffered when he crashed out of last weekend's Aragon MotoGP.
Also with an outside chance of the title is Bagnaia's Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini, who completed the podium and is 62 points behind Martin. — AFP