“It seems to be game over for us in the championship”

The Indonesian GP played last week created a break at the top of the championship. While Jorge Martín and Pecco Bagnaia virtually neutralized each other, with the Italian only picking up three points over the entire weekend, Enea Bastianini and Marc Márquez both came up short in the main race. Their good result in the sprint was therefore not enough to weigh favorably on their Indonesian balance sheet and their delay in the general classification increased by around twenty points to reach 75 units for one and 78 for the other.

Márquez, who throughout the year has taken great care to announce precise and measured objectives, concedes that, this time, it is no longer realistic for him to think about the title. Although he was always careful not to make it an openly announced goal, the turn taken by the championship could have given him some secret hope of taking advantage of the errors of the two leaders. However, this blank score complicates the situation too much in his eyes, while there are only 185 points left at stake.

“It seems to be game over for us in the championship. We already had a big disadvantage in terms of points but with zero in Indonesia, the gap is now too big,” slices Márquez, fourth, three points behind Bastianini after his retirement at Mandalika but 57 behind Bagnaia and 78 behind Martín.

“Bastianini and I were the ones who couldn’t fail, because if we did, we would have found ourselves completely out of the championship, and that’s what happened. The gap is already too big and the title is played by two”, note the Gresini riders. “As long as you’re in the rankings, you never know, but I said it would be very complicated, especially because we’re chasing the others, all the time trying to save things. “

“Peace of mind” for the end of the season

“It gives me peace of mind to continue working on the weak points in the last races and confirm the strong points,” explains the eight-time world champion, once again focused on the baggage he wishes to take with him into the next season, the one which will see him have an official Ducati.

From now on, the objective that Marquez sets for the last five Grands Prix of the season is to further perfect his copy when he has already managed to achieve victory aboard his 2023 Ducati. “We will maintain our objective, which is to try to fight with regularity. We have managed to do that since Austria, we have shown consistency in the results. And the next objective will also be to improve our weak point, which are the qualifications.”

This week, the championship faces the Motegi circuit, a stop-and-go track which generally suits the Spaniard well and on which he scored his last podium with Honda a year ago. “The stop-and-go tracks work well for my riding style, so I like it. We’ll see what we can do this year. I also expect the KTMs to be super fast because they are very good in stop-and-go corners”, However, he warns, obviously without excluding his own motorcycle: “This track suits the Ducati well. It brakes well and accelerates well.”

As the first tests approach, which will take place on Friday, there is a lot of talk about the weather, with rain and storms forecast for almost the entire weekend. A prospect that leaves Márquez unmoved, despite the opportunity that conditions capable of reshuffling the cards may represent.

“When I was still in the running for the championship, I preferred the rain because then everything is possible, especially when you have to recover points. But given that we are now a little outside of this fight, it’s “We will try to adapt to any situation.” he emphasizes, without getting wet.

Still, the conditions in which Friday’s tests will take place could indeed weigh heavily on the #93’s objective of qualifying well, because the top 10 established in the second session regularly proves that it is decisive for be in a good position on the starting grid.

With Ruben Carballo Rosa