Marc Marquez cautious after Sepang test: ‘Two, three riders faster than me’
Marc Marquez was satisfied with his Sepang test but admits there is more work to do
Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez ends the Sepang test “happy” with the work he has done with Ducati, but warns he needs to “improve because two, three riders are faster”.
The Sepang test marked the 32-year-old’s first outing on a MotoGP bike since his 2025 season was ended early by a collision in last October’s Indonesian Grand Prix.
Marc Marquez topped the opening day of running and was fourth overall across all three days at the end of Thursday behind Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi and pacesetter Alex Marquez.
Evaluating the test, Marquez believes “everything is in a good way” with Ducati’s GP26.
“Not bad. I mean, step by step, we tried a few things, and we go out with clever information,” he told MotoGP’s After the Flag.
“Let’s wait for the Thai test and try to continue in our work, but it looks like everything is in a good way.
“Of course, I need to improve in my side, but step by step.
“The best [physical] feeling was on day one in the afternoon. Then, step by step, I was getting worse and worse. But today was a demanding day.
“The fact that yesterday it rained, today was quite a busy day. We did a good job, a lot of laps. I know tomorrow I will be tired, but I will have time to recover.”
Marquez says the upcoming Buriram test will be “more important” than Sepang to finalise where Ducati is for the start of the season, but admits at this stage he needs to find a pace improvement.
“Thai test will be important, more important than this one, because then in just four days after the test we will have the race,” he added.
“Here always when we come in October, it looks like another circuit with less rubber.
“But today I’m happy and these three days were very useful for us. But we need to improve because there are two, three riders who are faster than us.”
Marquez had his first crash of the year early on day three at Sepang, as he slid off his Ducati at Turn 1.
He says this was a result of trying a different aero package, which changed the balance of the bike and caught him out.
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