Jorge Martin, Pecco Bagnaia “have something more” in title race - Marc Marquez

Despite another stunning ride from 14th to P3 three in the Catalunya MotoGP, Marc Marquez feels he’s still a step behind his main rivals.

Francesco Bagnaia secured victory ahead of Martin, while Marquez fought hard to secure third ahead of Aleix Espargaro.

But when asked if he’s a title contender following his fourth consecutive recovery performance that ended with a podium, Marquez was not entirely confident of such a push.

“If I want to push for the title I need to start in the first two rows like them,” said Marquez. “It is one of the targets but it is true that they have something more.

“I have something in some race tracks but they are fast in every race track.

“We need to understand this and we cannot be struggling on Fridays, or struggling in Q1, but to be only 41 points behind the top guy after six races; if you said this to me at the start of the season I would say ‘where do I need to sign’.

“I would sign to finish in the top three of the championship at the end of the season.”

Marquez has been on the podium in the last three grand prix, while the Gresini Ducati rider has also been on the podium in the sprint at Le Mans and Barcelona.

Marquez made his way through from 13th to second twice in France, before doing the same from P14 in yesterday’s sprint.

And while the eight-time world champion had to settle for P3 today, Marquez believes it was his best podium out of all of them. 

Marquez said: “For me, yes! In Jerez I had the pace to win but I didn’t have the confidence to do it. It was the first time, together with Austin where I had the pace, but in Austin I made a mistake.

“In the sprint race in Jerez I also made a mistake so I didn’t have that confidence. Then, in Le Mans I had the pace to win and for that reason I caught them.

“Here, I didn’t have the pace to do that. I had the pace to be in the top five. Starting from 14th position is even worse.

“But I just tried to concentrate well, not miss any brake points and try to overtake riders without losing time which is one of the most important things in a comeback.

“It was difficult because some of them, like Morbidelli, were using the rear tyre a lot so I wasn’t able to overtake them.

“But then, step-by-step I got to P5 but I didn’t realise that I was fighting for P3 on the last lap because I was just focusing on the riders.

“Super happy to be in P3, especially after starting P14. but if you want to fight with these two guys we need to improve the qualifying practice.”