Alex Marquez “not really convinced” by own potential before Spanish MotoGP Sprint podium

A second place for Alex Marquez in the MotoGP Sprint is not a novelty by now, but the Spanish rider says he was not entirely expecting such a result ahead of the Saturday race in Spain.

It was Marquez’s fifth second place from five Sprints this season at Jerez, but after crashing twice on Friday and losing out on track time to understand tyres and try different setups he had planned, the 29-year-old was not entirely sure where he stood ahead of the 12-lap Saturday race.

“I didn’t start the race really convinced,” Marquez told MotoGP.com after the Spanish Sprint.

“We know that [Friday afternoon] we didn’t get a lot of information [because of] the crash, and I was a bit worried about track conditions and all that because I was not having everything under control before starting the race.

“So, I took it easy a little bit, I did a good start but in the first three laps I took it easy to not make mistakes; and later on I was just trying to keep the pace, to not make mistakes, I decided to just control the gap with Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] and just be calm.

“[I’m] really happy for that, I think we did a good step today, but the other ones with the information they got yesterday did another one, so it’s what we need to do for tomorrow.

“Happy, but tomorrow is the main day, the important day, and we need to be focused again.”

Marquez added that he feels the podium is again a possibility for him in the Grand Prix, but stressed the importance of the start.

“I think yes,” Marquez said when asked if he could finish on the podium on Sunday in Jerez, “but it will depend a lot on the first lap and the start because here, we saw today, with a train it’s super-difficult to manage the front tyre.”

The Gresini Racing rider had been able to follow his brother, MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez, in qualifying and again in the Sprint, and was unsurprised by the areas he felt the Ducati Lenovo Team rider was faster than him.

“Exactly the points that I expected before coming here: turn four, turn seven, turn eight,” Marquez said when asked where he was losing time to his older brother.

“I mean, no secrets with him [Marc Marquez], he’s really fast there, he’s able to be really consistent in those points; he’s able to turn the bike, doesn’t matter if it’s a soft [compound] rear [tyre], medium compound rear, or [whatever], he’s able to be really there.

“Me, in that point, I feel more the rear pushing to the front and I was not able to turn. So, we need to improve a little bit that point for tomorrow, and we will try it.”