Behind Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia who are engaged in a titanic duel for the world title in MotoGP on their Ducati GP24s, Marc Marquez gets the most out of his GP23 and obtained two podiums in Japan.
Poorly qualified (9th) by a few millimeters on the green, the Spaniard nevertheless, and once again, gave everything to get on the podium, something he is starting to get used to. With four rounds remaining and with 148 points still to go, the hope of the title is no longer realistic, but its objective for the 2024 season has already been achieved… Looking forward to 2025!
As usualwe report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the post-race press conference of the Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi, round 16 completed, and it’s a double victory in the Sprint and the Grand Prix for Ducati rider Lenovo Pecco Bagnaia, of course the reigning world champion. Second from the 4th row of the grid was Jorge Martin for Prima Pramac Racing, and completing the podium was a second podium of the weekend for Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez. Gentlemen, congratulations to all three!
The podium is completed by Marc Marquez’s third place for Gresini Racing. Marc, it was a fierce fight for 24 laps, like in yesterday’s sprint, a personal duel with Enea Bastianini. It seems you got the better of him today. Tell us about your race.
Marc Marquez : “Yeah, I mean, we had a good comeback, a good first round; For Martin, the first lap was better, but even Miller was also better than us because we were there recovering a lot of positions. But yes, when I got to third place, they were already a little too far away. I tried to continue and at one point I said to myself “OK, now I’m going to attack”, but this attack meant taking more risks on the braking points and I went wide at turn 1. I lost a second and a half in one lap, but from there I started the second race, trying to control Bastianini. I was a little scared for the last laps because he was super fast, and even though we were riding on a small 45, but he still caught me. But I felt good. I mean we started the weekend away from those two guys, but we finished pretty close, so not close enough, but we’re on the right track. »
I just add that in the last laps, you were the fastest driver on the track, because the pressure came from Enea. So there are a lot of positives to take away from this weekend…
“Yes, it’s very positive. You have to understand some things, especially because it seems that this weekend I was very fast on the soft tire and for the time attack, but I had a little more difficulty with the rear tire medium, while during the other races, it was quite the opposite. So we need to understand why. »
Quickly guys, before we move on to questions from the media, we saw our first world champion crowned today, Moto3 star David Alonso. I know we’re all big fans of his here. I know all three of you are. He’s going to give you a hard time with the future. Marc, I know you know David very, very well. You know how talented he is and what an incredible job he did this year…
“Yes, I’m in love with David (Laughs). Especially because he’s that kind of guy who, okay he’s fast, super talented, but who has his feet on the ground, who has charisma. So yeah, I mean he can be, and I think he will be, if I need to bet, a great champion. He is already a champion, but a bigger champion in the future. The kid needs time, next year he will make mistakes in Moto2, but we shouldn’t put too much pressure on him because he is very young. And I hope, and I wish, that he arrives at the highest level, that is to say in MotoGP. »
It seems that the brakes are at the limit on this circuit. Do you think anything needs to be done to reduce speed or aerodynamics, or to be more efficient with the brakes?
“For me, it’s a nightmare! Since Misano, I have a lot of problems. I don’t know if it’s because we brake later, if it’s because we are more demanding on the brakes, but yes, honestly, I have a lot of problems. »
Marc, you had a good view of these two guys fighting. You had a few battles here on the last lap and I think you said in parc ferme that the race looked super boring. Why was it so boring? What should we do to fix it?
“I mean it was boring because there were no overtakes (laughs) and I love overtakes. But it’s true that Pecco made the perfect strategy, that is to say starting in first position and pushing, pushing, managing the tires, but trying to widen the gap because he knew that Martin and I were left behind. But yes, on this kind of “stop and go” circuit, if you are behind someone, you lose a lot of performance when braking and you don’t gain any when exiting, because of the aerodynamics. So yeah, it makes life a lot harder and you can only overtake the guy in front if you’re 3 or 4 tenths faster. If you’re just a tenth faster, it’s impossible. »
MotoGP Japan Marc MarquezMotoGP Japan Marc MarquezMotoGP Japan Marc Marquez
MotoGP 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Results at Motegi:
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
