Marc Marquez: ‘Massive respect’ for Martin, Bagnaia

After an opening lap bike swap, Martin and Bagnaia took over first and second places on lap 6 at Motegi.

Marquez meanwhile yo-yoed between second and sixth places before reeling in the leaders as the rain intensified.

The Repsol Honda rider then claimed his first Sunday podium of the season by passing Marco Bezzecchi on lap 12 and was closing on Bagnaia and Martin ahead.

Marquez looked to have a real chance of ending his two-year victory ‘drought’ but he signalled the conditions had become too dangerous just as red flags were waved a lap later.

The early end confirmed victory for Martin, who is now just three points behind Bagnaia.

“Massive race from these two guys that are fighting in the championship. It’s not easy to take the risks they took,” Marquez said.

“Amazing. I know what it’s like when you are fighting for a championship in these kind of conditions. Massive respect.

“They did a very good race. They are fighting. They have this extra concentration, extra push. It was nice to see the battle of these two guys from the back!”

Turning to his own achievement, Marquez said:

“Of course, it was an important podium. We were looking for it for all the season. It arrived very late, but arrived in Honda’s home circuit in a day that I took profit from the weather conditions,” he said.

“In the beginning I was struggling a little bit too much, but then I was trying to manage the tire. Then when the track was in real wet conditions, I started to attack and be faster and faster.”

Despite such speed in the wet, Marquez fully supported the decision not to restart.

"Race Direction was so clever today. They took the best decisions. Before the restart, check on the warm-up lap to see how was the visibility. They saw that with a lot of bikes it was impossible. And also the light was very low. It was raining less and there was less water on the track, but even like this, it was too much. They did a perfect job today."

The pair of third places at Motegi followed a competitive weekend in India, but Marquez played down hopes of a sudden change in form for Honda over the remaining six rounds.

“No. I would like to say yes, but India and here are [slow] corners, where I can take a risk on the brake point, turn and make a massive pickup to have a good acceleration," Marquez explained.

“We will arrive in Mandalika and there is a few corners where you need to use the edge grip, the traction. It’s there where we are losing a lot. You cannot do anything because you just spin.

“I will try to do my best as I do always, but it will be more difficult.”

Quizzed on whether the 140th rostrum of his grand prix career might change his plans for 2024, amid the growing Gresini Ducati rumours, Marquez signed off by calling the Motegi result a ‘romantic podium’.

“No. Today’s podium or India’s result, Misano, or Catalunya… I have a clever mentality and I know what needs to happen, to do one way or the other one. We can say that today’s podium was a romantic podium.”