Marc Marquez’s honesty over ending win drought at anti-clockwise Aragon
“Doing a perfect weekend, maybe I will have the chance to fight with these top guys."
Despite his impressive Aragon record, Marc Marquez believes nothing less than a ‘perfect weekend’ will give him a chance of ending his MotoGP victory drought on Sunday.
The Spanish star was unbeaten at Aragon as a Repsol Honda rider from 2016 until 2019, bringing his circuit total to six wins before the 2020 season was lost to arm injuries.
Marquez was then straight back at the sharp end at Aragon 2021, narrowly losing out on victory to Francesco Bagnaia.
The #93 staged a comeback from further arm surgery at the 2022 round but clashed with Fabio Quartararo and Takaaki Nakagami on the opening lap.
Although a frequent frontrunner since switching to Gresini Ducati this season, Marquez’s MotoGP losing streak is approaching three years and he knows past glory counts for nothing.
“Obviously, we arrive at a circuit I like, I enjoy and have been strong at in the past. But now is the present,” Marquez said on Thursday. “I know that doing a perfect weekend, maybe I will have the chance to fight with these top guys.
“It's true that in Austria I was super close and it was one of the best weekends in terms of feeling with the bike. So let's see how we start here in FP1 and FP2. That will be crucial for me.
"If we start with a good base, then let's see if we can be with the top guys.”
Sitting alongside the trio of factory GP24 riders ahead of him in the standings - Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini - Marquez added:
“I hope to have my chance in some weekends to fight with these guys that now are super fast and are riding in a very good way.
“We will try. My target is try to fight for the podium positions and then let's wait if we will have the chance to fight for the victory.
“If not, next year we'll have more opportunities!” smiled the 2025 factory Ducati rider.
The anti-clockwise direction of the Aragon circuit - resurfaced ahead of its 2024 MotoGP return - is one factor that naturally plays into Marquez’s hands.
But “as we saw in Sachsenring; that’s all left corners and they were super fast.
“So we need to understand where is our level and what is the level of our opponents.
“It's a circuit that I like and this helps in the way to approach practice and understand the setup of the bike.
"But I cannot forget that still I never won this season.
“So we need to keep going, keep learning and keep improving if we want to have the chance, this Sunday or next Sundays.”
Marquez starts this weekend 22 points behind Bastianini and 83 from title leader Bagnaia.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
