Marquez: 'Full aggression' for 'fun' Virtual Race

Reigning world champion Marc Marquez and younger brother Alex will be among the ten riders doing battle in the inaugural MotoGP Virtual Race on Sunday.

With real racing still on hold due to the coronavirus, MotoGP has arranged a six-lap contest around Mugello using the MotoGP19 video game.

“All of us are living in a difficult moment so it will be really nice to have some fun and bring some action to the fans," said Marc Marquez.

"We are doing this for all of the people who love MotoGP, to give them something nice during these incredibly hard days, thanks to the other riders and the championship for putting this together.

"I have been remaining at home, still training as much as I can while staying safe. Alex and I enjoy playing the MotoGP game together but now we must be a little more serious about it."

Unless he falls off the sofa, Marquez won't have to worry about damaging his healing shoulder and plans to attack for all six laps.

"No matter what we are racing, as riders we want to win!" said the Spaniard. "With the race only being six laps, I think we can go full aggression and push the whole way. I’m looking forward to doing some racing!”

MotoGP rookie Alex added: “We have a responsibility to encourage people to stay inside and follow the guidelines, if they can’t come to the races then we can bring the races to them.

"I have been following the advice and staying inside, adjusting my training and how I live so that we can all get through this. I thought my ‘racing debut’ would be a little different but I am looking forward to it either way.

"Normally I am quite competitive in the MotoGP game when I play with friends, so I am not sure I am a true rookie but it is very hard to know the level of the other riders.

"Let’s see how it goes, Mugello is a fun circuit to ride as it’s very fast and especially into Turn 1 you can make some big moves. I hope that the fans can enjoy this event with us!”

The virtual race will be shown live on YouTube at 15:00 CET, with the full rider line-up as follows:

Repsol Honda Team: Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP: Maverick Viñales

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini: Aleix Espargaro

Team Suzuki Ecstar: Alex Rins, Joan Mir

Petronas Yamaha SRT: Fabio Quartararo

Red Bull KTM Tech 3: Iker Lecuona, Miguel Oliveira

Pramac Racing: Francesco Bagnaia