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Marc Marquez puts the Qatar GP to bed with another eleventh position. As happened in the Sprint on Saturday evening, the champion from Cervera held his own for as long as he could under the spotlights of the Lusail International Circuit. After having fought tenaciously in the initial stages amidst the large Ducati line-up, from mid-race onwards he gradually lost ground, paying the price for an RC213V far from being defined as performing and crossing the finish line just outside the top-10, immediately behind Jorge Martin on a bad day.
“A race not to be thrown away, but a not entirely satisfactory performance. I know the reason - admitted Marquez - I did my thing, I kept my pace and stayed behind Martin for almost the entire race. I thought about reaching the finish line, with my eyes already on Valencia. Overall a solid weekend, without any mistakes."
Around the halfway point of the race he made mistakes in rapid succession which made him lose precious time in the battle for sixth position: "On this track you easily lose grip when you end up off the line because in those points the asphalt is very dirty. By doing so I lost at least 2-3 seconds and several riders took advantage of this to overtake me."
Despite giving the impression of being able to put pressure on a helpless Martin in the second half of the race, at the end of the day the # 93 was unable to put his nose in front of his compatriot's Prima Pramac Ducati: "The situation was very similar to the Sprint when initially I had a better pace than Bagnaia, but as the laps continued I started to suffer attacks from my rivals. Overtaking riders like him and Martin? I didn’t want to have problems. I wasn't fighting for a top placing. I know that my race wouldn't have changed with one more overtaking, but theirs would have. If I have the pace to fight for an important result, then I'll attack. Why should I have attacked Bagnaia in the first two laps yesterday knowing that I couldn't fight him? And today why would I attack Martin for an extra point? It didn't change my life. But if I had made a mistake, my life would have changed."
He probably wouldn't have had any major difficulties in overtaking Martin, who was clearly in trouble with his tyres: “He wasn't behaving like he usually does. He paid the price especially when cornering and accelerating. Coming out of the last corner he was quite slow compared to the other Ducatis."
Waiting to make his debut on Gresini Racing's Ducati, in a week Marquez will line up for his last GP with Repsol Honda colours. A chapter of 11 seasons including 6 world titles comes to an end. Valencia therefore promises to be a weekend with a high emotional content: “It will be very challenging. I will have to study the program carefully, I will have many things to do. However, my goal is to give my best on the track and finish the race in the best possible way."
