Lookalike at exhibition kart race in Japan – Marc Márquez justifies the move with the tight title race – He says he’s simply being selfish at this stage of the season
Race Sunday at the Japanese Grand Prix kicked off with an event that was highly unusual for a MotoGP weekend. Following the warm-up, which was extended to 20 minutes due to tyre conditions, a go-kart race featuring the MotoGP riders took place.
This event had been devised by MotoGP promoter SEG to provide an extra spectacle for both the Japanese spectators at the Motegi circuit and fans watching on television.
The starting grid for the karts mirrored the results of the MotoGP qualifying session, with Jorge Martín on pole position, Marc Márquez in second place and Pedro Acosta in third.
All riders in the premier class were invited to this event, which forms part of MotoGP’s marketing campaign to attract more and more new – and, above all, young – fans.
However, it was clear from the very start that it was not Márquez who had turned up for this race, but a lookalike. A man walked out of the pits onto the starting grid wearing a Ducati jacket and Márquez’s helmet – the dark visor closed.
The MotoGP official in charge on site even approached the supposed Marc Marquez and asked him to lift his visor so that his identity could be verified. The unknown man refused, however.
As if that weren’t enough: shortly before the warm-up lap began, the lookalike ran back into the pits. The kart race, which Somkiat Chantra eventually won by a narrow margin ahead of Acosta, thus took place without the reigning world champion.
After the Grand Prix, which he won ahead of Martin, Marquez explained why he had sent an obvious lookalike to this kart race: “We’re fighting for a world championship here.”
” I understand the spectacle and realise that such stunts are part of entertaining the fans. But given the spectacle and the risks we’re already exposed to on the track, I felt it was completely unnecessary.”
“After the warm-up, I stopped because I needed to ice my shoulder. As I was sitting there with the ice, a team member suddenly said: ‘Why don’t we just send out a lookalike?’”
“I just replied: ‘No one would ever dare…’ And the answer was: ‘Hold my beer for a sec.’ In the end, the only problem was that they caught him.” But it was clear from the very first moment that it was a lookalike.
He received a telling-off from MotoGP promoter SEG for this stunt. “Yes, there was indeed a telling-off, but at this stage of the season I’m simply selfish and I’ll stay that way.”
On the starting grid for the kart race, Martin realised straight away that it wasn’t the real Marquez under the helmet: “I saw straight through it – that wasn’t Marc. But anyway, I completely understand his stance.”
“When they told us about the event, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it either. Those lads are completely mad, and any little knock from behind can completely ruin the main race for you.”
“That’s why I quickly stayed out of the fray at Turn 1 and just stuck with the slower riders,” says Martin, explaining that he didn’t want to risk injury under any circumstances. In the World Championship, he now leads Marquez by just two points.
