Marc Marquez says he doesn’t expect to be in victory contention for Sunday’s full-length Indonesian Grand Prix despite his run to the top three from 12th in MotoGP's sprint race.
The Gresini Ducati rider’s third-placed finish behind Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini in Saturday’s shorter encounter was the positive end to a day that started terribly when Marquez failed to set a time in Q2 after crashing twice.
Marking the third successive event that Marquez has hit the deck during qualifying, the six-time MotoGP world champion nonetheless shook off his fourth-row grid slot with a searing getaway that propelled him all the way to fifth in just two corners.
Getting as high as second in the wake of a crash for Jorge Martin and an off-track moment for Marco Bezzecchi, though Marquez was demoted down to third by Bastianini late on, it still represents the Spaniard’s 13th top three finish of 2024.
“Yesterday I was struggling a lot, then today we made a big step in FP2 but in qualifying we made a big mistake and didn’t finish the lap,” said Marquez.
“Starting 12th penalised our race a lot, but the pace is there and we showed in the sprint race that we could fight for the podium, so I am super happy.
“But, after the first lap, I could see that even if I started on the front two rows I would have finished in the same position, so we did the maximum.”
Encouraged by his pace in race conditions having struggled to dial in his GP23 during practice, it still leaves Marquez feeling even more frustrated for the qualifying dramas that will consign him back to 12th on the grid for Sunday’s race.
“It is true that you can’t do a first lap like that every time,” he added.
“It felt super good, but it is not the normal thing, so tomorrow we will take more time to come back and it will depend on how much time we lose in the first laps to see if we are close to the front.”
