As euphoric as Marc Marquez’s celebrations over finally returning to the top step of the MotoGP podium were last week at Aragon, he never claimed that he was about to resume his old domination.
And though the headline times from Friday at Misano were very good - second in both sessions, just 0.037 seconds behind championship leader Jorge Martin in the morning and the closest challenger to world champion Pecco Bagnaia in the afternoon - the overall pace suggested this will be a weekend when the lower steps of the podium are the limit.
While Bagnaia was able to reel off plentiful laps in the mid to high 1m31s range (and felt no ill-effects from his massive Aragon crash once the painkillers were deployed), Marquez only got into that pace sporadically and was generally slower.
There were factors the Gresini Ducati rider could’ve offered as mitigation - traffic on his final run then a yellow flag for Aleix Espargaro crashing - but he doubted either made a difference.
“Pecco was faster,” Marquez concluded. “For me that second place was a real one.”
Though he said he “felt good, the pace attack is working”, he is sure “Bagnaia and Martin will do a step” when qualifying begins and is just looking to be in the top four.
He was not at all surprised to “feel slow” in the track’s third sector “which is right-right-right-right” and where he was only ninth quickest, before regaining ground in the left-handers of the final part of the track.
“I have to improve in that T3, especially Turn 11, but it will be difficult for me,” said Marquez.
”My target is to try not to lose a lot there. We are losing at another two points but there we will lose.
“We have other strong points where we need to take advantage of our riding style and our bike.”
The Aragon win was an explosion of delight and a reminder of what used to be his norm. But it’s getting that ‘norm’ closer to what he wants that’s Marquez’s real focus now, more than notching up a few more wins. He wouldn’t have fought so hard to get a top-spec Ducati for 2025 if episodic success was his only goal.
“The step is to try to work on the consistency,” said Marquez.
“That is the biggest difference between a champion and a good rider.
“Now is the time to work on that consistency.
“Today the confidence was super-high but I was super focused to not exaggerate, and this will be the key.”
