Marc Marquez makes Aprilia MotoGP “meeting” joke after Malaysia ‘aggression’

Footage from the Malaysian MotoGP has revealed a light-hearted Marc Marquez joke with his Ducati team over an “aggressive” Ai Ogura in the Sprint at Sepang.

Marquez finished the Sprint second, but only after battling Ogura at several points during the race, including some close passes such as the one Marquez put back on Ogura at turn five that rather ended the battle.

The factory Ducati team’s YouTube series, Inside Ducati, has now shown footage of Marquez’s post-Sprint reaction to Ogura’s aggression.

“They [Aprilia] had some kind of meeting,” Marc Marquez joked with his Ducati team about the aggression of Ogura during the Sprint.

He added that he made a mistake off the line which invited an attack from the Trackhouse rider at the first turn.

“I made a mistake at the start,” Marquez said. 

“I hit the limiter shifting from second to third. That was on me. 

“I went from second to third, or maybe third to fourth, and hit the limiter. I think it was second to third. 

“I had a wheelie, but the power delivery was okay. 

“Then I reached the first braking zone and Ogura was really aggressive.”

A few hours earlier Marquez had had another scare in qualifying when he had three slides in turns 13 and 14. He explained afterwards to his team that it had been a mistake with gear selection.

“I did third gear, change direction, then fourth and then first [gear],” he exclaimed to crew chief Marco Rigamonti after qualifying.

Speaking afterwards to Gigi Dall’Igna and other Ducati technicians in the pit box, Marquez said of the error: “I exited badly [from turn 14]. I made a disaster at turns 13 and 14.

“Normally you do third gear, second; I did fourth, first, and second in the middle of the corner! I didn’t know where I was!”

Marquez went on to win on Sunday, his first Sepang victory since 2019 and his third in the premier class in total. It sets up a MotoGP title chance for him this weekend at Qatar.