RiderTua.com – Surprisingly, rookie Pedro Acosta was able to overtake 6-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez at the Qatar GP. But Baby Alien finally overtook Acosta again after the GasGas Tech rider went wide with a few laps remaining. This started a decline in Acosta’s grip as he slipped from 4th to 9th position, while Marquez even approached Jorge Martin to fight for the final position on the podium.
In the Gresini garage after the race, Marquez said, “I had the chance to get on the podium! I was chasing him but ran out of front tires. When I overtook Acosta I said ‘I’ll switch on’ because otherwise I would be left behind and I saw there were still 8 laps left.”
Marc Marquez: During the duel against Pedro Acosta I said I would ‘switch on’
In both the sprint and main races, Marc Marquez is the 3rd best Ducati after Martin and world champion Francesco Bagnaia. An amazing debut for the 31 year old rider on the Ducati GP23 bike. Marquez’s face was radiant when he returned to the pit.
When the former Repsol Honda rider, who last won a race in 2022, was asked about his speed after a team crew member said, “Until the last two laps you were going fast.”
Alex Marquez’s brother and teammate responded by saying, “Yes, the last 10 laps. If I try to reduce my time by even 0.2 or 0.3 seconds, I will put too much pressure on the front tire and I won’t finish on this track.”
Marquez also joked with one of the team crew, when asked about his statement before the race, where he said that challenging for the top 5 would be his main target.
Gresini Crew : “You told me that if we were in the top 5 in Qatar.”
Marc Marquez : “Yes, that’s good.”
