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Category: Moto GP
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#PortugueseGP Sprint Race. We like to play with the movie theme, and today’s movie was one that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end. It is only a sprint race, but it is also the best-ever result so far for Marc Marquez in this special Saturday format. A second place with big significance, especially as it came from a perfect start from row three. The fourth place in the championship standings is consolidated and the gap to Bagnaia at the top is only 10 points.
For Alex Marquez, this was a Saturday to forget with an unfortunate Q2 and a Sprint Race with no glory, which he still finished in 13th place. Better to reset and think about the Sunday, full-distance race, with the top ten being the goal in order to gain fresh confidence on his Ducati #73.
2nd - MARC MARQUEZ #93
“The day didn’t start the best way with a mistake in Q2. Then we had a great start and it was a good race. To be back overtaking and having the speed is surely a good feeling. I battled with the best and despite a few mistakes I can say it was a ‘different movie’ compared to the past. Let’s keep working and think about the warm up because there’s still a very important race to tackle.”
13th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73
“It wasn’t our best Saturday. We made it through Q2 with ease but then everything went the wrong way. A human mistake did not allow us to get a good start and it was all uphill since then. I didn’t start well and the Sprint Race is hard without a good start. We’ll try to turn the tide tomorrow: the full race can help us and the goal is to score as many points as we can.”
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The first European outing for the 2024 MotoGP season saw Marc Marquez’s star shining bright. With far-from-ideal track conditions, the #93, for the first time aboard the Desmosedici machine around the Portimão track, was able to top the timesheets in the morning free practice before securing the direct seed for Q2 with the third-quickest time in the final session of the day. Ahead of him only Bastianini and Miller.
1’38.210 was today’s best lap for the eight-time world champion, still far from the outright lap record of 1’37.2 he set last year on a Honda. He also had the first crash of the season, a simple low side without consequences.
Alex Marquez also had a tumble, which “only” affect his overall performance for today. The #73 finished half a second away from his brother, but the forced return to the pits in the decisive minutes of the afternoon practice resulted in a 12th place finish – and a mandatory participation to Q1.
3rd - MARC MARQUEZ (1’38.210s)
“It was a positive day, despite the crash. It’s all part of the learning curve and we’re doing well. We know where we’re losing time, and we know why. T4 has never been by strongest part of the track, I have never managed to get the last two right-handers the perfect way. The crash happened because of the heavy traffic on track and the Ducati is harder to manage in someone else’s slipstream. Still, it was my mistake, but it’s good anyway: it was a matter of time before my first crash and everything helps.”
12th - ALEX MARQUEZ (1’38.809s)
“The crashed ruined our plans a little and once I got back to the track, I wasn’t feeling fully comfortable with the soft tyre, and I still was doing a not-so-bad lap. Then I found some traffic, with Mir following Pecco. I managed to overtake him, but still lost some time. Q1 is always a big price to pay, but we did everything to be competitive. Right now, we only need to focus on Q1, then we’ll turn our heads on the sprint race and the full-distance Sunday encounter – qualifying is now key.”
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The start of the season is already under the belt and the Gresini Family still keeps growing, this time courtesy of the partnership with Italjet, an Italian institution with solid roots in the so-called Motor Valley.
Italjet becomes technical sponsor of Team Gresini MotoGP, who just made their debut under Losail’s floodlights in Qatar last Sunday with the two brothers Alex and Marc Marquez.
The partnership will not stop at the track, as the famous Italian motorcycle manufacturer has already a Gresini Racing-liveried version of its top product DRAGSTER in the works.
MASSIMO TARTARINI – PRESIDENT & CEO of ITALJET
“For us it’s an incredible honour to become Technical Sponsor of Team Gresini, a squad that has established itself among the top protagonists of MotoGP – while aiming higher and higher each year. We’re tied to Team Gresini through a solid partnership, and we also have a very strong sense of belonging to our territory, Italy’s Motor Valley. This partnership will also lead to the development of a Dragster Replica with Team Gresini’s colours. The DRAGSTER, which we define as an Urban Superbike, is an ode to sport and its values.”
CARLO MERLINI – GRESINI RACING COMMERCIAL AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
“I’m very, very pleased to welcome Italjet among Gresini Racing MotoGP’s technical sponsors. We share a very pronounced racing DNA, obviously, but also the fact that we belong to a territory that, as it’s well known, has extremely strong connections to motorsport. We developed with Italjet a dual partnership: on top of the sponsorship, there’ll also be an agreement to develop a Gresini Racing MotoGP replica of the Dragster, the iconic model of the Italjet range that will soon be available in the distinctive colours of team Gresini.”
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#QatarGP. In Qatar’s Night of the Oscars, the stars of Mac and Alex Marquez shone bright. The #93, in what was his debut with the Gresini Racing-liveried Desmosedici machine, made a stellar start and put together a solid race, even battling with Martin for the podium in the latter stages of the encounter. He was eventually fourth at the chequered flag; Alex Marquez also had a positive Sunday, being the fifth best-placed Ducati rider at the line for a sixth position that bodes well for the upcoming races.
Between sprint race and full Sunday encounter, Team Gresini Racing MotoGP proved to be on scintillating form, leaving Qatar with 31 points, and finishing as second-best team in the opening round of the season. MotoGP proceedings will resume in less than 10 days at Portimão.
4th - MARC MARQUEZ
“I had a go at the podium. I wanted to preserve the front tyre in order to have a little extra at the end of the race, and almost bridged the gap to Martin. Almost, but it’s good this way. If at the Valencia test they’d told me I would have finished fourth today, I would have signed for it. This has never been one of my favourite circuits so fourth place is a good result. We will analyse the data now: Bagnaia finished three seconds ahead of us and he’s the reigning champion. It’s from him we need to learn to further raise the bar.”
6th - ALEX MARQUEZ
“Qualifying aside, we put together a strong weekend. I managed to stay with the top riders in the race and play my cards. It was hard to attack, especially due to the high temperatures at the front-end. At this track, this is surely a good result, we bring home a good number of points and fresh confidence ahead of the next round.”
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The opening day of the #QatarGP turned out to be quite the unusual one, with the rain affecting the second session as well as the weekend schedule. The majority of MotoGP riders chose to move the decisive session to tomorrow, leaving today's final session as second free practice.
This decision was not agreed by Marc and Alex Marquez, who did well in both session. The #93, in particular, was fourth quickest in FP1 and then topped the timesheets in wet conditions. Alex, despite an ongoing issue that is yet to be solved, managed to stay in the top eleven (9th under the rain).
The key practice session for a direct seed to Q2 will take place tomorrow from 13:40 to 14:25, while the sprint race will get underway at 19:00 Doha time.
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4th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (1’52.801s)
“First official day and it was important to start with a good feeling without ending up overdoing. It went well, despite the rain… it was a strange day without time attack which was moved to tomorrow. The goal was Q2 and we'll try tomorrow, but the feeling in both dry and wet conditions were good. On the dry there are 3 to 4 riders who are quicker than us, but we need to keep working and keep discovering the bike little by little.”
11th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’53.250s)
“The first day went quite well. This morning we worked on different settings to solve some issues we had in testing. It didn't go exactly how we wanted and the afternoon rain kind of “ruined” our plans. It was still important to ride in the house ain and we adapted well also in th e conditions. Tomorrow will be a stressful Saturday so we need to sleep well tonight.”
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