The man of comebacks
Two comebacks in two daysboth closed one step away from the top step of the podium. Marc Marquez he is now in full possession of his Ducati GP23 and he demonstrated it at Le Mans. On the French circuit the eight-time world champion – only 13th in qualifying and eliminated in Q1 – managed both in the Sprint and in today’s ‘real’ race to get back up to second place, surrendering only to Jorge Martin. Today’s result also repeats that of Jerez and raises #93 even to the third place in the world rankings, just two points behind Pecco Bagnaia, beaten today on the last lap with an overtaking by Marquez from his golden days. Jorge Martin is at +40, but the season is long and a Marquez like this, with a free head, can cause worries for everyone.
“Yesterday the start was unreal. Today was a good start and a good first lap, but more normal – commented the home champion Gresini to Sky Sport MotoGP, analyzing the race – I had to ‘cook’ the race with patience and at my own pace, waiting for the last laps in which I knew I was very strong. It’s a shame that when I got to the two of them (Martin and Bagnaia) I wasn’t able to pass straight away. Pecco broke away very hard. When you have one driver in front you can try, but when you have two you struggle to overtake”.
Show duel with Martin and Bagnaia
Today’s great comeback surprised even Marquez himself, who admitted that he would not have bet on a new top-3 finish: “Yesterday I would have said that it was impossible to get on the podium. Overtaking is difficult, because the pressure on the front tire increases and you have to manage many things. But during the weekend the important thing is that we continued to grow. We learned on Friday afternoon with the team, even by making bad decisions. 13th position on the grid penalized us throughout the weekend, but today I am very happy for myself and for the team. Finishing just one second behind Martin is wonderful“.
The most tense moment in the #93 race came on the last lap, with the successful attack on Pecco Bagnaia. A maneuver that the champion from Cervera carried out even though he was aware of the risks: “When overtaking in Bagnaia I broke off very late – has explained – I expected Bagnaia to attack Martin, I saw that he accelerated very well and thought he was going for it. But on the last lap I saw that she wasn’t attacking and so I decided to attack. It wasn’t close, but I thought about breaking away hard.”.
An eye on 2025
Finally, there was a very interesting passage on the driver market. In 2025 Marc Marc Marquez’s goal will be to return to having an ‘official’ bike, therefore from the current season and not – like this year – from the previous year. But the manufacturer and the team do not represent constraints for the #93: “Leaving Ducati? When I made the decision to come here I knew that Ducati was the strongest bike. I chose the strongest bike to see what I was capable of doing. I had doubts about myself too, I said so. Now I’m competitive and since I’m competitive theNext year I want to try – wherever it is – to have the latest evolution bike – he ruled – because you have a better chance to fight for the World Championship. Red? Whatever the color of the motorbike, whatever the brand. I have clear ideas.”. Ducati and KTM are warned.
