Marc Marquez will start from the front row in the Phillip Island GP: the Cervera champion takes advantage of Pecco Bagnaia’s wake in Q2.
Marc Marquez returns to appear in the front rows of the MotoGP championship, with a second place at the end of qualifying at Phillip Island obtained not without a pinch of strategy and cheekiness. He stuck in the wake of Pecco Bagnaia and even blew his position, with the Turin of the Ducati who will start third. As if that were not enough, he became the author of a spectacular rescue that brought to mind the phenomenon of Cervera prior to the injury at Jerez 2020.
There are only 13 thousandths of a gap from the poleman Jorge Martin, which set the new circuit record in 1’27 ″ 767. But what matters most are the conditions of the right arm who was operated on for the fourth time last June 2nd. Regarding Bagnaia’s wake, he acknowledges: “Pecco’s slipstream proved to be very useful, because we know that with Honda’s current package it is impossible to do these lap times alone. So we have to look for a fast frontman“.
Marc Marquez is looking for the first podium of the season
The Phillip Island track plays in favor of the eight-time world champion, with counterclockwise direction and the majority of left-hand corners. On Friday he worked almost exclusively on data collection on the new aerodynamic package of the Honda RC213V. “We are working thinking about next season, even if of course we also invest time in the set-up of each GP track. It is good that we are catching up with the best drivers from race to race. This is important“. On Saturday you set aside the data collection to try to make a result.
The strategy allowed him to earn a top position, tomorrow it will be essential to make the right tire strategy. The choice to engage in Pecco Bagnaia had been wanted and studied since the morning, now the first podium of the season is by no means impossible: “Pecco is racing for the World Championship and I knew he would fly … We are developing, but the bike is still at the same level at the start of the championship“, He stressed Marc Marquez after qualifying in Australia.
He will try to enter the initial tussle to obtain an impressive result that can give him a new and further injection of confidence. “I’ll try to do my race, to beat whoever it is, and then we’ll see. It is clear that whoever will play for the championship tomorrow has an important ballot, especially Quartararo if he wants to stop the bleeding.“.
