Alex Marquez celebrates “unexpected podium”, Marc “playing a bit” in Misano MotoGP
Alex Marquez took an emotional Misano MotoGP podium in Gresini colours, felt brother Marc was “playing a bit” with the pace.
A pair of qualifying crashes left Alex Marquez starting his final Italian MotoGP as a Gresini rider from just ninth on the grid.
The Spaniard salvaged fifth in the Sprint but did much better in the grand prix, taking Gresini’s special Marco Simoncelli livery to second place behind brother Marc.
It was Alex’s first podium since his huge Catalunya crash in May and the first Marquez one-two of the season.
“A huge honour to wear these colours, but especially to be on the podium,” Alex Marquez began.
“For Gresini, also, it is a really important GP. And it will be my last GP with Gresini in Italy, so it was emotional for that point also.
“I just tried to give my 100%. It's true that [coming through the field] I used a lot of energy, but I believed that was the way to do it.
“It’s an unexpected podium for us, especially a P2. We were a little bit lucky for that crash [by Bezzecchi] but we were able to ride in a really good way and be strong until the end.”
"Marc was playing a little bit"
At one stage, Alex closed to within half a second of his race-leading brother, but felt the factory Ducati rider always had something in hand.
“When I attacked the lap time, he was attacking. When I was relaxing a little bit, he relaxed. So he was playing a little bit,” Alex said. “I think he had maybe 0.1s of rhythm more than me, and for that reason he was able to control that gap in a really good way.”
Nonetheless, the future factory KTM rider feels the only thing missing from being able to add to his Jerez Grand Prix victory earlier this season is a front-row start.
“Starting from front row will make it more easy,” he said. “But I think today Marc and Bezzecchi had something more than me, maybe just half or one tenth, but here one tenth is a lot.
“For that reason, Marc was able to play a little bit with me at the end. But if you are on the front row and you make a good qualifying, you have more chances. So this P2 for me is quite unexpected.”
Alex is now up to eighth in the MotoGP World Championship, ahead of Marc Marquez’s Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia.
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.
