How Marc Marquez stopped taking “too much risk” for Aragon MotoGP sprint win

It has really been Marc Marquez’s weekend so far. Aside from a slip-up in Q2 which gave away pole position to Alex Marquez for a brief moment, the Spaniard hasn’t looked under pressure from anyone during MotoGP’s Aragon Grand Prix weekend.

Of course, Marc decided to spice things up for himself with some self-inflected pressure as his wheel-spinning start dropped him down the order in the sprint race, but he quickly found a way past brother Alex and the VR46 machine of Franco Morbidelli to take the win.

After a couple of incidents in recent races where he appeared to be riding over the limit of adhesion, the six-time MotoGP champion answered questions regarding the extent of his risk-taking.

“It’s true that on a quali lap I take too much risk, and I was slower because I was exaggerating and I was trying to be faster than the tyres and the bike allowed,” Marquez explained. “Then you are against the bike and start to slide and are shaking everywhere, and it was not the best lap honestly speaking – but enough to be on pole position.

“Then in the sprint race, all the time I was under control, I feel the bike all the time. It’s true the overtake with Alex at that moment there were some locks in the front but it’s the only way to overtake a fast rider like Alex who is also braking super hard. The problems started on the start, the rear span and then I lost a lot of positions but I was calm, I controlled the race, and we take that 12 points.”

The only real moment of concern was the contact with Pedro Acosta on the run into Turn 1 as the pair fought over third place; however Marc is adamant that it was not a big deal.

“I don’t remember exactly,” said Marquez. “I was a bit behind, no? And then I tried to break hard, especially because you need to break hard, if not the front device and the rear device don’t go to the correct positions.

“But these kinds of racing incidents always have the same pattern. When somebody has some problems at the start and then the other arrives with some other speed and the difference of speed makes this kind of incident – especially in Turn 1 in Aragon, which is one of the trickiest points, as Austin and many other races.”

An interesting point of discussion was Marc’s bike specification, but the Spaniard was quick to remove any speculation that he was on a special Ducati bike.

“I ask many times to the engineers and they always say the same,” explained Marquez. “I’m riding exactly with the same bike as Alex, Fermin and Morbidelli. I don’t why – but we have exactly the same bike.

“It is true that at Le Mans and Silverstone, I was riding with a different spec but here I come back because I want the best and the same as the others, and on the Monday test we will have time to retry.”