For the third consecutive round, Marc Márquez reached the podium in MotoGP, finishing third in the Catalunya GP. Just like in France, he had to make a recovery from a very back position on the starting grid – in this case, 14th.
With the added factor of Barcelona being a tricky circuit for him. The Spaniard was asked in a press conference if, for that reason, the result is more important than the previous two podiums. In response, he confirmed:
– For me, yes. Especially because in Jerez I had the pace to win, but I didn’t have the confidence to do it because it was the first time alongside Austin that I had the pace and 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, that’s why I caught them. Here I didn’t have the pace to win; I had the pace to be in the top five – and starting from 14th, even worse.
Márquez then spoke about his approach to the race: ‘I just tried to focus well, not miss any braking points, simply trying to overtake the riders without losing time because this is one of the most important things in recoveries. And at the beginning it was difficult because some of them like [Franco] Morbidelli or other riders were using the rear tire a lot and I couldn’t overtake them. But then, step by step, I saw the fifth place‘.
In the last laps, the eight-time world champion reached third place by overtaking Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia)… but he didn’t think he was fighting for the podium, as he revealed: ‘I didn’t realize I was fighting for third place on the last lap, because I was simply focused on the gap and the riders. I’m very happy to be third here in Montmeló, especially starting from 14th. But if we want to compete with these two guys [Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín], we need to improve our qualifying’.
