The Jerez GP was marked by the fierce battle between Marc Márquez and Francesco Bagnaia in the final laps of Sunday’s race. The Spanish rider once again secured Pole Position and was very competitive throughout the weekend.
Jorge Lorenzo, in statements for his podcast, talked about this battle and recalled that the Spanish rider is using a version of the Ducati inferior to Pecco’s version.
– ‘Pecco was at 95%, but when Marc overtook him, he managed to get the 5% he was missing. Bagnaia also made it clear that the GP24 was winning on the straight, I think it is superior in terms of acceleration and speed. What I saw was that Marc, to keep up with Bagnaia’s diabolical pace, had to push hard on braking. He had to compensate there for what he was losing in acceleration. Márquez with a 2024, wins at 100%, we’ll see when he has a bike like Pecco and Martin. For me, Marc’s fall on Saturday was circumstantial, due to the track conditions, and Bagnaia’s fall was not his fault.’
Lorenzo talked about what might have been going through Marc Márquez’s mind at the time of the contact between him and the Italian rider: ‘”I will hold on to Pecco, knowing that it is possible that he will come in”, but when he saw that he was coming in, he lifted the bike a bit so that neither of them would fall. They were both expecting that contact. I also tell you, if the situation had been reversed and Pecco was on the outside, do you think he would have come in? Marc cannot beat him with courage. He was already worried about beating him with his speed. With the points Marc lost in the three races he crashed in, he will not win the world championship. He may regret those falls at the end of the year,” said Jorge Lorenzo on his podcast.
