Concerns regarding his front tire caused Marc Marquez to concede that he gave up on trying to finish on the podium at the Qatar MotoGP.
In the sprint, Marquez made his Ducati Grand Prix debut by finishing in P4 (after P5) after applying pressure to Jorge Martin of Pramac, who managed to finish third.
Later on, Marquez disclosed that he gave up on trying to pass Martin in order to avoid crashing.
According to Motorsport, he said, “The last two laps I gave up because I saw the chance to crash.”
“As well as the opportunity to score two or three extra points…
“I preferred to finish fourth and wait for two weeks in Portimao.”
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Marquez described how he managed to get his front tire past the finish line to cap off his achievement.
“We analysed with the team a lot of things to try to manage the start, it was better today,” he stated.
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Thus, this greatly aided the race. The tires were then easy for me to control.
“The problem was that while most riders were handling the rear today, I was handling the front more than the back because, on the Honda, my old bike, I was having some issues with the front tire every year at this racetrack.
“Anyway, I still need to work on several aspects of my riding technique because I’m not riding well. But the race was steady and unwavering today.
“I finished the front tire and started to push more with the front during my attack, which I executed during the final eight laps.”
Marquez finished fifth in the sprint and fourth in the grand prix, respectively, making his maiden race round with the GP23 mainly a success.
Unfortunately for him, the current champion, Francesco Bagnaia, has already won the first race on Sunday and is already leading the standings.
Martin, Bagnaia’s closest rival from the previous year, also won the sprint, indicating his own plan to return to the race for the top spot this year.