Marc Marquez Reflects on Q2 Crashes and Gresini Rider’s Podium Surge at Indonesian MotoGP Sprint

Marc Marquez details the issues that led to his qualifying crashes

Gresini rider achieves podium finish after starting 12th on the grid

Marc Marquez believes that finishing third in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix sprint race was the best result he could have managed, even without the setback of starting in 12th place following two crashes in Q2.

For the third consecutive weekend, the Gresini rider experienced significant crashes in the Q2 qualifying session, causing a dramatic drop in his ranking.

In Indonesia, Marquez experienced two crashes during Q2, preventing him from recording a lap time and placing him in 12th position. Nevertheless, he made a remarkable recovery by advancing to fifth place at the first corner in the sprint and eventually secured a third-place finish after being a strong contender for the victory throughout most of the race.

Finishing just 1.7 seconds short of winning the sprint, Marquez mentioned that this was the best outcome he could have anticipated, despite beginning the race from the front row.

"It affected me significantly, but upon reviewing the race after the first lap, I realized that even if I had started from the first or second row, my finishing position would have been the same," he mentioned on Saturday at Mandalika. He had managed to reduce his championship gap to Jorge Martin, who had crashed, to 53 points.

"Therefore, despite starting in the front row, we gave it our all."

“It’s correct that we can’t always have a first lap like today’s, and tomorrow will be tougher. We had an excellent first lap today, but tomorrow’s outcome will hinge on the start.”

Marquez mentioned that he felt "really great" passing numerous riders right at the start of the sprint, but he acknowledged that this is "unusual" and shouldn't be anticipated to happen again at the beginning of Sunday's grand prix.

"The outcome hinges on how things begin," he elaborated.

“If you begin strongly and have a quicker pace than those ahead of you, you can secure a good position."

"If you begin and things don’t go well initially, with others being quicker than you, it becomes difficult to secure a good spot."

"I was extremely fortunate because I had a fantastic start – I was even gaining on them on the straightaway."

"At the braking point, I tried to find the optimal spot, but it's quite tricky here. As you noticed, I was slightly on the inside where it was dirty, making it more challenging."

Discussing the issues during qualifying, Marquez explained: "In the second session, I was using a hard front tire, which I didn't prefer for the time attack."

"During the race, I maintained a steady pace, but for the time attack, I found that I had slightly less grip on the edges."

"I attempted to handle it effectively, but I wasn't able to. The error with the first tire was somewhat alike."

"I experienced an issue at the back when the rear brake locked up. Following that lock, the bike sharply corrected itself, causing me to lose control at the front.”

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