Better starting position, but still the same result. Marc Marquez managed the hoped-for turnaround in qualifying on MotoGP Saturday in Mugello and returned to the second row of the grid after two Q1 debacles in a row. However, he did not manage a better result in the sprint, finishing second as he did in Le Mans and most recently in Barcelona. He was just under a second behind sprint winner Francesco Bagnaia – and he lost that lead right at the start.
“I start in the second row and don’t get off to a good start,” Marquez said angrily on Saturday evening during his media round. His tough analysis: “I probably lost the race there.” In recent weeks, the Gresini driver shot up from 13th and 14th place into the top ten in the first few meters, but in the Mugello sprint he even lost a position on the way to turn one. Maverick Vinales started even worse, but Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder shot past him.
Marc Marquez botches the MotoGP start phase in Mugello: Bagnaia gets away
Marquez was stuck behind Binder for the entire first lap before he was able to push past the KTM at the start of the second lap on the start/finish line thanks to a massive slipstream. The next position gain came two laps later when Bastianini crashed out of the race after contact with Jorge Martin. The number 93 rider quickly closed the gap to the world championship leader, but the ‘Martinator’ was initially unable to cope. He blocked the first overtaking attempt on lap five, and it was only on the second attempt one lap later that he managed to swap positions. Marquez was immediately able to visibly pull away from Jorge Martin, but was already almost 1.2 seconds behind Bagnaia at this point.
“Around [nach dem schlechten Start, Anm.] “To get back, I had to wear down my rear tyre a lot. I wanted to get back to second as quickly as possible because I knew that Pecco would try to open up a gap and he managed that,” recalls the MotoGP superstar and continues: “I was able to close it bit by bit, but then on the penultimate lap I made a mistake in turn ten when I started my last attack. After that I gave up. I’m still happy, we were fast and fought with the top Ducatis again.”
Marc Marquez hopes: Will the Bagnaia penalty allow him to take his first win since 2021?
This means that the reigning world champion is naturally once again the favourite for the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, but Marquez is quietly hoping for a surprise. He knows: “We were close today. It wasn’t far off.” In addition, Bagnaia has to serve a three-place grid penalty in the main race on Sunday for blocking Alex Marquez in training, which is why he will ‘only’ start the Italian GP from fifth position.
This may be a decisive difference, as Marquez benefits from being able to start from third place and therefore from the first row of the grid. “An elementary point for Pecco today was that he was able to lead the race right from the start,” said Marquez, who believes he can conjure up a different course of the race on Sunday. “We’ll see if I can start better than him, but I’ll just concentrate on myself. I would actually have preferred to start from fourth place, because the line for braking into turn one is slightly better there.” A small disadvantage, but one that Marquez will certainly be happy to accept if his biggest rival for the race win has to start from further back.
If the Gresini rider actually ends Bagnaia’s Mugello series on Sunday and takes his first MotoGP victory since November 2021, he would also continue an impressive series. Because Ducati’s next success would be the 93rd in the premier class. Most recently, Martin took the 89th victory, Marco Bezzecchi the 72nd and Bagnaia the 63rd triumph.