Alex Marquez “quite surprised” at Valencia MotoGP sprint win, ‘fastest in no session’
Alex Marquez’s Valencia sprint romp was not on the cards for the Gresini rider pre-race
Gresini’s Alex Marquez say he is “quite surprised” at the dominant pace he had in the MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix sprint, as “in no session were we the fastest ones”.
The 2025 championship runner-up looked competitive on Friday, but had to dedicate his practice time to testing a new aerodynamic package.
As such, he came into Saturday’s sprint after qualifying second not expecting to be able to fight for victory.
However, Alex Marquez grabbed the lead at the first corner and got to the chequered flag over a second clear of KTM’s Pedro Acosta for his third sprint victory of the campaign.
“Better than the plan,” he said.
“I was quite surprised, because in no session were we the fastest ones. And in the sprint we were the fastest one.
“So, I think that situation activated me a little bit more. I was able to ride in a really good way, with a good flow, with a really good feeling on the bike.
“So, we will see what can happen tomorrow. Just we need to be focused and not lose the activation, the speed.
“Today, it was one of the best feelings I had during the season because it was an unexpected win on the sprint.
“I was expecting to suffer much more, so to be there was nice, especially in front of the Spanish fans. So, it was super special.”
Marquez says his tyre preservation in the sprint on the soft rear was better than expected, especially after what he felt in qualifying.
He also says Gresini made “some steps” with the set-up of his package on Saturday, “but not big ones”.
“Especially, I didn’t drop the rear tyres,” he added.
“On the time attack, after two, three laps, I felt quite a big drop on the rear.
“But in the sprint I was able to make my plan. Three laps to warm up and then try to push.
“So, I think it was the best situation, the best plan, and I was able to do it in the perfect way because nobody attacked me.
“Yesterday we focused more on trying the aero package and we forgot a little bit the pure performance of perfecting the set-up and other things.
“So, today we focused on the set-up, extracting the potential, and we were able to make some steps.
“But not big ones, like we saw in the sprint. In the sprint I was able to ride in a really good way.
“When you are trying things during a weekend, it’s not easy to extract the 100% real potential from the bike.”
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
