Alex Marquez valiantly defended the honor of his family, whose icon is his older brother Marc, in a Catalunya Grand Prix where he put his name at the top of the hierarchy of Honda drivers at the end of the race. A supremacy of the blood of Cervera which however comes at a high price. Because Alex Marquez was not in shape after his heavy fall from FP4 on Saturday, coming out, in particular, of a concussion. Starting last, he comes back with a top 10, not without commenting on the official driver Pol Espargaró who finished last in the same competition…
Alex Marquez is happy to be done with a race he describes as ” long and hard “, with this noble feeling of a job well done like that of having been worthy of the reputation of a great name at Honda: that of Mark. His first satisfaction came from the doctors on Sunday morning who declared him fit to run. Starting last, he had nothing to lose and chose the option of soft tires which turned out to be wise. He explains : ” physically, I had no limitations, I felt good, maybe without energy since the crash yesterday, but I felt good from the first to the last lap. At least I was able to have a little fun with the public and the fans, and finish the race giving 100% “.
On his technical choices, he adds: “ the position is not bad, but the sensations were not very good. It was normal for the software to fall a little before the others. There was a lot of difference, and at the front it also deteriorated a lot on the right side. In the last seven laps it was almost impossible to drive. Finally, in the last corners, it was windy. It was not the best race in terms of sensations “. And he ends: we saved the essentials, but we ended very far. We have to improve a lot. Monday we have a very important test, we have to keep pushing and insisting “.
Alex Marquez: I think Marc gave me strength after the crash on Saturday”
But this Catalan Grand Prix also included human aspects. So about his fellow mark Taka Nakagamidoomed to loathing after his crash at the start which resulted in the loss of Bagnaia and of rins : “ we are human. The ‘Taka’ thing is quite normal in a first corner, it’s super difficult to calculate the braking, and in addition here you arrive very quickly. Riding behind these motorcycles, you can’t imagine what the wake is doing, and when the wake is sucking you in, there’s nothing you can do. Departures are getting faster and faster, before the 0-100 was done in 2.7 or 2.8 seconds, and now we are at 2.2. We’re going faster and faster and the circuits stay small, and that creates more driver error. “.
There was also the blunder ofAleix Espargaro : “ the Aleix thing can happen, with the adrenaline, racing at home, you want the race to end, you’re on the podium… it can happen, too bad it happened, and we almost caught it. These are things that can happenit has happened in the past with Julian Simón, with Rins, with many pilots, it will surely happen again “.
Indulgent with Aleix and Taka, Alex Marquez is more severe towards Pol Espargaro…” I overtook Pol, I don’t need to brake late, I don’t know exactly what happened to him, he wasn’t accelerating… something strange he said. Contract KTM already in mind perhaps? In this Catalan Grand Prix, Nakagami as Bradl fell and Pol Espargaro finished last. The six points of the top 10 brought back by Alex Marquez are therefore welcome on the eve of a test day where one can wonder who will have the bike of Mark Marquez in evaluation. Because Nakagami should rest after his accident.
MotoGP Catalonia Race: standings
Credit MotoGP.com