After a string of good racing weekends in Aragon and Misano, Marc Marquez could have once again shined on the Motegi track, in Japan. Very early this morning, during the final part of qualifying, motorcycle number ninety-three crossed the track limits by only a few centimeters, near turn four. Launched at full speed in his lap, the information came to him too late on his dashboard, the Spaniard therefore aborted his last attempt, thinking he could not do better. The race management took the decision to withdraw his time, the six-time champion finished his timed session in ninth position. Questioned by the press, the native of Cervera admitted his mistake.
“We were unlucky in qualifying. Of course I hit the green. On the bike, I didn’t realize it because we’re always at the limit, without knowing if we’re on the line white or not, but I hit green But we were super unlucky with this late notification. I had the possibility of doing one or two more laps, but seeing that the timer was there, that’s it. it hadn’t been deleted, I decided not to make another one while attacking There were raindrops and I decided not to take any chances I was super happy to have. made the pole and not fell! [rires] This was not the case during the last qualifications. The system was blocked and they were unable to send the notification. That’s what was unlucky, because with another lap I think I would have easily been on the second row. From there, my job was to forget about it, concentrate on the sprint race, and that’s what I did. I tried to give 100%, I did it and we’re on the podium again so I’m happy.”
A small mistake with big consequences
Without this incident, Marc Marquez was one of the favorite candidates to win the sprint race. Despite his distant position on the starting grid, the Gresini rider managed to finish on the podium, behind the two official Ducatis of Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, thanks to the fall of Pedro Acosta in the middle of the race. In the last three passages, the double reigning champion slowed down his pace on the handlebars of his Desmosedici GP24. Taking advantage of the latter’s difficulties, the “Ant of Cervera” accelerated to catch up with number one, with his opponent “Bestia”, but in vain. The man from Rimini left no opportunity or passage for the Spaniard. At the end of the day, he congratulated the Italian’s maneuvers.
“I know Enea defends really well, he did it very well, especially in that last lap. When I got behind him, I tried to attack him immediately because as soon as you make a or two laps behind another driver, the temperature rises, the wheel starts to lock up. On the last lap, it’s not that he was faster, it’s just that I was a little slower because. I started to have blockages at the front and I decided to push, but not to put this little extra thing there, because for two or three points… I was thinking more about not losing the podium than attacking for second place.”
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In Brief
Early this morning, after qualifying, Marc Marquez was in contention for pole position. Unfortunately, his time was canceled by the race officials, due to track limits not being respected. Discover the reaction of the Gresini driver.
