The Mandalika track doesn’t suit Marc Marquez, who in the last two years has never managed to obtain a significant result. History repeated itself on Sunday at the Indonesian Grand Prix, where a mechanical problem forced the Cervera rider to leave his Ducati on the side of the track with 12 laps remaining. After the podium in yesterday’s Sprint, the first weekend does not end in the best way for the Gresini driver, who now flies to Japan, further and further away from the championship fight.
Without any warning, the GP23 number 93 stopped, forcing the eight-time world champion to stop on the side of the track. Marquez, however, was forced to flee due to a fire starting on his Ducati, which was then put out: “What can happen in a race happened, we had an engine problem and this forced us to withdraw from the race. There was a mechanical failure that doesn’t even depend on the team. He gave no warning, it happened suddenly. Just on the previous lap I thought I would have clicked to take a few more risks and catch up with the riders in front. The bike and engine were perfect, I had just done my best lap when it happened.”
This is a regret for Marc, who started from 12th place after a complicated qualifying and was starting to recover: “I was doing a progressive race, at the beginning I lost a lot of time in the battles for overtaking, then I started to feel comfortable to get to the group fighting for third place, but things can happen in the race. Sometimes there are things that don’t depend on you, but here with the team we lose and win together, so today we had to suffer.”
“I don’t like to say it, but I think that, with a little more time, I could have been fifth or sixth. The initial part of the race was good, I was behind Pecco. Then I got into a fight with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was on the soft tyre, so it was normal that he was there at the beginning. We lost a lot of time, with 32 laps. I had to start from scratch and catch up with the group, before breaking the engine”, explained the Gresini driver.
Now, the fight for the title is narrowing and sees Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia 21 points apart. Enea Bastianini and Marquez are separated by 3 points and see their options increasingly reduced. The 78 points gap from the leader confirms what Marc has always said regarding his chances of fighting for the championship. “The title? Now I see it as more possible than ever!”, he joked, mocking all those who always insisted on inserting him into the fight when he took it out.
“I already said it, that’s why I was so calm,” reiterated the driver from Cervera. “I’m trying to achieve my goal, which is to be consistent and conservative. But sometimes things happen that are not in your hands and are out of your control. My goal in these races is to seek consistency to create a good base for next year”, explained Marquez, who in this final part of the season is finding his form and is taking all the steps that will lead him to achieve his goals. . Among these, there is no World Cup… At least for this year.
The one who is the big favorite after this race is Jorge Martin, to whom Marquez did not want to give advice: “He did what he had to do, which he was doing all weekend. He and Enea Bastianini were there. Martin has the explosiveness to open a hole early in the game and this gives him an advantage. Every time he took to the track he was the fastest, he took pole with half a second ahead.” There is no shortage of compliments to Pedro Acosta, who after a shiver due to tire pressure came out without a penalty. “He had a great race and was the only KTM rider to place himself among the riders in front. Well done, he always gives a little more on Sundays and today went well,” concluded Marquez.
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