Marc Marquez reacts to 100th grand prix pole: “It was a real pole position”

Qualifying at the Italian MotoGP saw a milestone 100th grand prix pole position for Marc Marquez, who beat Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez to the top spot in Q2 at Mugello.

Marquez’s 1:44.169 was enough to take pole by 0.059 seconds over Bagnaia, and it beat the all-time lap record – set last year by Jorge Martin – by almost 0.4 seconds.

For the Ducati Lenovo Team rider, there was satisfaction to be taken from achieving this milestone result with a lap set on his own, without a slipstream.

“Especially super-happy because it was a real pole position, it was without the slipstream, alone, and just trying to find my limits,” Marc Marquez said in his post-qualifying parc ferme interview on the international TV feed.

“It was a good lap.

“Super-happy in a circuit where, historically, Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] and Alex [Marquez] are faster than me – we were able to be on pole.

“Even in the free practice, the pace was not bad.

“But, be patient because in the afternoon with the warm temperatures can change everything. At the moment, we are there, and ready to fight for the Sprint and main race.”

Bagnaia: “I tried everything”

Second place marked the best result for Francesco Bagnaia in qualifying so far this season.

A satisfying result, then, even if his target was one place better.

“Mugello is magic and something incredible,” he said.

“I enjoy every moment here. I tried everything in qualifying.

“I was knowing that it was not an easy one – Marc is super-in-shape and it was tough to beat him. But I tried to give my maximum.

“It was important to start on the front row, and this is the best result this season in terms of qualifying so let’s see this afternoon.

“I think this morning we found something that was helping, so let’s see.”

Alex Marquez: One lap in Mugello “difficult”

Alex Marquez has almost floated under the radar in Mugello this week but on Friday he demonstrated pace that could put him in victory contention in both of this weekend’s races.

The Gresini Racing Ducati rider explained that, while his pace is strong, it’s difficult to execute one lap in qualifying at Mugello, a circuit which flows relentlessly from one corner to another.

“It was hard, was on the limit,” Marquez said.

“On the pace we’re really good but for one lap to make here perfectly in Mugello is difficult.

“Marc [Marquez] and Pecco did an amazing job.

“We have good pace for the race so we need to focus on that, it will be quite hot.

“We will see the rear tyre, and from that try to extract always the potential and try to be constant as we did always.”