Alex Marquez “at peace with myself”, MotoGP title runner-up chance at Sepang

Alex Marquez said he felt “at peace” despite dropping from second to fourth in the closing laps at the Australian MotoGP.

Marquez played "a joker" by pushing hard throughout Sunday’s Phillip Island race, with his rear tyre eventually paying the price.

But he had no regrets, finishing two places higher than in the Sprint.

“I said before the race, ‘today I will go for it, I will give my 100% in all the laps, I will not try to manage the tyres’. I will just go, and I enjoyed it. So that's the most important thing,” Marquez said.

“Later on, when I was suffering, I said, ‘OK, today already the joker, the risk I was taking, it's fine to finish fourth’. It was a good race.”

With Francesco Bagnaia crashing out and dropping behind Marco Bezzecchi to fourth in the standings, the Gresini Ducati rider is now on the brink of completing a historic Marquez one-two in the world championship standings.

“This was a really important weekend for second place in the championship. It's not easy to ride in these conditions, at this track, when you are playing for something,” Alex said.

“We’re going to Malaysia with a good margin; I love the track and we’ll try to seal our championship position there, with no pressure as there are still three events left.”

Marquez begins the Sepang weekend 97 points clear of Bezzecchi and 105 ahead of Bagnaia. A total of 111 points remain available, should either rival win all six remaining races, an almost impossible scenario.

“We need to go to Sepang with the same mentality. We have calmness inside. I'm at peace with myself, I know that today I gave my 100%, there was nothing more to give,” Marquez added.

“I'm relaxed. Sepang, like Catalunya, is a track that gives me confidence, because I know that if we keep working in a good way, we will be really fast. 

"So we just need to go there, start from zero, do our job, and see where we are on Sunday.”

Older brother Marc, who wrapped up the title in Motegi, will again be absent due to injury in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Alex's team-mate Fermin Aldeguer was forced to retire from seventh place at Phillip Island due to an undisclosed technical problem.

“We had a technical problem halfway through the race,” the Mandalika winner confirmed. “It’s a pity because it could have been a great weekend, but this issue stopped us in what was our best moment.

“We were lapping as fast as the frontrunners and we could have ended up close to them, but these things happen and now we’re heading to Malaysia knowing we have the speed.”