Did Q2 crashes cost Marc Marquez victory in Mandalika MotoGP sprint?
Gresini rider scored podium from 12th on the grid
Marc Marquez says third in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix sprint race was “the maximum” he could achieve even if he hadn’t started in 12th due to two Q2 crashes.
For the third weekend in a row, the Gresini rider suffered costly crashes during the Q2 qualifying session that plunged him down the order.
In Indonesia, Marquez crashed twice in Q2 and couldn’t set a lap time, leaving him in 12th. But he rallied to fifth at the first corner in the sprint and went on to finish third having run in the victory battle for most of the race.
Ending up 1.7s from the sprint victory, Marquez says that was all he could hope for even if he started on the front row.
“It penalised me a lot, but [analysing] after the race, after the first lap, starting on the first or second row I would have finished in the same position,” he said on Saturday at Mandalika, having closed his championship deficit to Jorge Martin - who crashed - to 53 points.
“So, we did the maximum even if we started on the first row.
“But it’s true that you cannot do a first lap like we did every time, and tomorrow will be more difficult. Today we did a very good first lap, but tomorrow it depends on the start.”
Marquez added that it felt “super good” to overtake so many riders off the line in the sprint, but it’s “not normal” and can’t expect a repeat at the start of Sunday’s grand prix.
“It depends on the start,” he explained.
“If you start well and then you have already faster speed than the guys in front, then you can find the position.
“If you start and for some reason you don’t start well, and the others are faster than you, then you cannot find the position.
“I was super lucky because I started super good - even on the straight I was catching them.
“And then on the braking point I tried to find the best one, but here it’s quite critical because, as you saw, I was a little bit on the inside on the dirty place and it becomes a bit more difficult.”
On what went wrong in qualifying, Marquez said: “It’s true in that second one I was with that hard front tyre, that for the time attack I didn’t l like.
“For the race pace today I used, but for the time attack I had a little bit less edge grip.
“I tried to manage well but I couldn’t. And the first tyre, the mistake was a little bit similar.
“I had a moment on the rear because I locked the rear with the rear brake. And after that lock, it came back super sharply and I lose the front.”
