Márquez to make MotoGP mark

Shortly before Jorge Lorenzo lifted his second MotoGP title in Australia on Sunday, another Spaniard was achieving arguably a more impressive feat in Moto2. Marc Márquez, who won the now-defunct 125cc world championship in 2010, swept to the title in the next category up with a third-placed finish on Phillip Island.

Márquez's feat is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least because he won the opening race of the year in Qatar having been unable to practice throughout the off-season due to problems with double vision. There are few riders who display the consistency of Márquez in a category as complicated as Moto2, where all the bikes are similar in specification and where there have been five different grand prix winners this season. Márquez, though, managed to take eight victories, which was four more than his nearest challenger, Pol Espargaró. In all the races he finished, he was only outside the podium places once.

More than anything, Márquez's title win was incredible because of the machine on which he delivered it. The Suter is a motorbike that was rejected by other racers, including Toni Elías and Alex De Angelis, who switched to Kalex and FTR, respectively, during the season.

At every circuit this season, getting the best out of the Suter has been a headache for Márquez and his team. But only the very best riders can cover a machine's shortcomings with pure talent, and Márquez is among the very best. Not only his results, but also the manner in which he has achieved them highlight the precociousness of the 19-year-old.

Some see obsession with victory as a defect. Others admire his ambition

Stunning comebacks in Portugal in 2010 and Australia last year were joined this season by his performance in Japan, where he was hemmed in at the start but rode through the field from 29th to win the race.

Some see Márquez's obsession with victory as a defect. Others admire the ambition, which derives from the charisma of a boy who always wanted to emulate MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi.

Márquez always seeks the impossible overtake, something that has drawn criticism over the past two years. But he is an aggressive racer, and is proud of being so. And, he has said, he has no intention of changing his racing style.

At Phillip Island Márquez's character was summed up on the final lap. After spending the race tucked in the first four places in the knowledge that just two points - 14th place - would secure the title, Márquez took the final curve at pace to deny Scott Redding a podium place and almost overhauled Anthony West on the line to claim second. He did not want to merely win, but to do so in style.

"I won the title this year by taking risks on the final laps," said Márquez in an interview published by his Repsol team. "Indianapolis, Brno, Aragón and Japan were four key races when I went head to head with Pol [Espargaró] and I couldn't allow him to take points off me in the general classification."

In the interview, Márquez also talked about how hard it was to recover from the vision problems he sustained during a crash at the Australia Grand Prix last year. "Every morning I would wake up worried about whether this would be the day when I would stop seeing double," he said.

The Spanish rider has signed a deal to replace retiring Australian Casey Stoner, the 2011 MotoGP champion, at Repsol Honda from next season, where he will race alongside compatriot Dani Pedrosa. "The dream of any racer is to move up a category with the world title, that was one of my objectives," Márquez added. "To move up to MotoGP and in my first year be part of the best team there is, that is a privilege. I am grateful to everybody who has offered me this opportunity. Of course, I am not going to miss out on it."