Marc Marquez leaves Ducati box stunned: he rewrote history at Le Mans
Marc Marquez is already sending a very important signal to himself, Ducati and the entire MotoGP since Q1 on Saturday morning in Le Mans. The Catalan, who in pre-qualifying had also missed direct access to Q2 because of a yellow flag caused by his own teammate Pecco Bagnaia, left everyone stunned with a gush that immediately made it clear what his intentions are ahead of the French Grand Prix.
While there was talk on the eve of the race of Marquez liking the rain, his only chance to shine at a delicate moment for himself and Ducati, Marquez achieved a real feat while Le Mans was illuminated by a blinding sun. And it was under these conditions that he took to the chariot for access to Q2 with a time of 1:29.288. Not only a lap out of anyone else’s reach, but even a new track record. And the reactions from the pits of an astonished Davide Tardozzi and a smiling Bagnaia help to understand the weight of the Catalan’s feat.
A feat that takes on an even more special flavor when you consider the context in which it matures. Friday at Le Mans had told a very different story, with Marquez forced to finish thirteenth in pre-qualifying, more than four tenths from the best time signed by Johann Zarco on Honda LCR. “We suffered today,” Marquez himself had admitted to Sky Sports microphones, without hiding his difficulties. “It is never ideal to find yourself in Q1, but today we could not put the necessary speed on the track.” Words that make Saturday morning’s reversal even more sensational.
The flash in Q1 comes after weeks in which the entire factory Ducati had come under scrutiny. In the first four Grands Prix of the season, neither Marquez nor Bagnaia had managed to take a win or podium in Sunday’s long races, an unthinkable statistic for a team used to dominating. Marquez himself had lucidly analyzed the GP-26’s problems on the eve of the French weekend: “The results show that we have speed but not consistency. This year we have been much more inconsistent. I notice it especially in the fast corners, especially in the left turns, where I definitely go slower than last year.” A stark self-criticism, which the record Q1 chrono now seems to want to refute in the most eloquent way possible.
Framing Marquez’s performance is also the overall situation of Ducati, grappling with a competition, Aprilia in the lead, which over the course of the season has shown itself to be anything but willing to be a spectator. Team manager Davide Tardozzi had already warned everyone in recent weeks, “It is clear that Aprilia has taken a step forward and now we must focus exclusively on ourselves.” Tardozzi himself, however, had defended Marquez, pointing out how the weeks of break between Grand Prix had been precious for the Catalan to recover his physical condition after a complicated start to the year, also on a personal level.
In this scenario, the track record signed in Q1 is not just a number on the timesheet: it is the most convincing answer that Marquez could give to those who, in recent weeks, had begun to question the nine-time world champion’s real state of form. He himself, on the eve of the race, had cut short the rumors that wanted him to hope for rain as a lifeline: “Relying on rain is a phrase that I don’t like, because if a rider hopes for rain it means that in dry conditions he is not proving to be the level to win.” Said, done: with the sun blazing over Circuit Bugatti, Marc Marquez simply did what he does best.
