Why does Valentino Rossi have an “Unforgivable” grudge on Marc Marquez?
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Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez MotoGP
Take two MotoGP fans with one fan supporting Marc Marquez while the other is supporting Valentino Rossi and put them in a room and slowly mention the words “Sepang 2015” and watch them charging onto each other with their blood boiling because such was the effect that this particular race had on the two fan bases and MotoGP as a whole.
Valentino Rossi came to believe that his super controversial title defeat 2015 was partly thanks to fellow MotoGP legend Marc Marquez. Valentino Rossi suspected the Repsol Honda rider to be playing a massive role in the outcome of the championship and is yet to forgive him for his actions to this day.
Let us revisit the 2015 MotoGP season including the title deciding controversial round held in Sepang
Between 2013 and 2019, 2015 was the only season where Marc Marquez didn’t win the championship title. A series of crashes over the season meant the Repsol Honda driver had dropped back from the works Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi in the standings and virtually out of contention for the championship. Valentino Rossi had control over the championship for the most part of the season while in the latter part of the season, Jorge Lorenzo had caught up to him. After the Australian GP Lorenzo was just 11 points behind Rossi in the championship with two races left to go.
In a gut wrenching press conference ahead of the Sepang GP where both Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez were present, Valentino Rossi claimed that his teammate was being aided in his title charge by Marc Marquez. This was remarking and had instigated even more tension between the two drivers. What preceded the conference was even more enticing as there was a massive incident in the actual race.
After dropping behind Lorenzo, Marc Marquez was racing Valentino Rossi extremely hard. Their battle was intense with both the riders being on the limit with their machinery. In one such instance, Marc Marquez went round the outside of Valentino Rossi in an attempt to pass him which did not go as planned. It looked like Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez had touched where the Italian rider arguably kicked #93 which in turn caused him to crash. Now that was a massive violation which must have happened in the heat of the situation.
Although to the stewards this would not matter. This incident had a huge impact in the championship battle as the Yamaha rider received penalty points for the incident which meant a back-of-the-grid race start for “The Doctor” in the title deciding finale in Valencia. Valentino Rossi raced in Valencia like a true champion by passing almost 7 drivers in the first corner and further led an impressive charge where he kept picking out the drivers in front of him.
He slotted into P4 in the final few laps where it was a lonely run to the finish line as the top 3 were way ahead. Rossi came home in 4th place and lost the 2015 MotoGP title to Jorge Lorenzo by 5 points.
“Impossible, What he did to me is unforgivable” : Valentino Rossi
In an interview last year, Valentino Rossi was asked whether he had forgiven the Repsol Honda driver for the incidents in 2015, he said “Impossible. What he did to me is unforgivable. When I think back to those days I have the same feelings as then. And it’s been six years. It seems hard for them to change.”
There have been no attempts in between the two drivers to forgive as the feud still goes on and won’t end any soon.Marc Marquez doesn’t talk much about the whole controversial situation as much as his former rival. We are sure that there will be more drama on this in the years to come.
Who do you think is more at fault in this whole situation? Let us know in the comments below.
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Varad Joshi
(940 Articles Published)