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Bored instead of dueling with Bastianini: Marquez third again on Sunday

Sotd Editor

Just like in the sprint, Marc Marquez also finished the MotoGP race in Motegi in third place – Enea Bastianini did not attack this time.

For the fourth time this MotoGP season, Marc Marquez has managed a double podium: After the weekends at Le Mans, Barcelona and Aragon, the Gresini rider also made it into the top three on both days of the Japanese Grand Prix.

After finishing third in the sprint race on Sunday, he came in third again in the main race. However, the fight for the podium was much less exciting this time than on Saturday, when Marquez dueled with Enea Bastianini in the final laps.

“It was a boring race,” says Marquez himself. ‘It was boring because there were no overtakes, and I love overtaking. But Pecco had the perfect strategy,’ he says, praising race winner Bagnaia. ”He went straight to the front and saved his tires, but also tried to open up a gap.”

“By the time I got to third place, he and Martin had already opened up a gap. I tried to find a way to close that gap, but when I pushed a little harder on the brakes, I made a mistake in turn 1,” explains Marquez.

By this point, Bastianini had already begun to catch up with Marquez. The Spaniard consequently turned his attention more to the rear: “I gave up my chase to the front and concentrated on controlling Bastianini.”

“He rode very well and I was a little worried about the last few laps. We know how strong he can be then. But we were able to control it.”

Marquez explains overtaking difficulties

He defended third place and crossed the finish line a good half a second ahead of Bastianini. In the end, he was almost four seconds behind race winner Bagnaia and 2.6 behind Martin. “We started the weekend far away from them and finished it quite close – not close enough, but we are heading in the right direction,” said Marquez.

Asked if he could have challenged Bagnaia and Martin if he had started from a better position, the Gresini rider replied: “Of course, if you start from further forward, everything is different, but we started from ninth on the grid.”

“The start was good, if not perfect. Martin overtook me in turn 10, I lost time in the acceleration and then Miller also passed me in turn 11. That cost me a bit. But that’s just the way it is,” summarizes Marquez.

It took a few laps before he was able to get past Miller. “On tracks like this, with a stop-and-go character, you lose a lot of performance on the brakes when you’re behind someone,” he says, explaining the problem with overtaking.

“And then you don’t gain anything on the corner exit because of the aerodynamics. That makes our lives more difficult. You can only overtake the driver in front if you are three or four tenths of a second faster. If you are only one tenth faster, it’s impossible.”

This makes a good starting position and a good start all the more crucial. That’s why Marquez emphasizes: “It’s important for us to improve our qualifying. It looks like we’ve managed to do that here. We were fast, but we had bad luck.”

Bastianini struggles with his start phase

On Saturday, the Spaniard set a new track record in qualifying, but lost it again due to disregarding the track limits – and dropped back to ninth place on the grid.

Bastianini, on the other hand, started the race from fourth position, but this time he did not have such a good start as he did in Saturday’s sprint. “I’m frustrated because the first lap didn’t meet my expectations,” says the Italian.

“Brad (Binder) overtook me – as always at the limit. That cost me a lot of positions. Behind Brad, I was stuck for quite a while.” Meanwhile, the train pulled away at the front. Once past Binder, Bastianini was able to close the gap to Marquez, but it was not enough for an attack.

“I was fast and felt good on the bike. But it was too late for the podium, even though I got quite close to Marc,” the Ducati rider analyzed himself.

“My pace was good, but so was Marc’s. I tried to get a little more out of it, but I had a few problems with the rear tire. Because when I was behind Brad, I put a lot of strain on the rear tire to attack. So by the time I was ready to push, I was already at my limit.”

In the World Championship standings, Bastianini has lost a few points to Marquez again. After their crashes in Indonesia, both are already too far away in the race for the title, but between them it is still about third place overall.

This is also evident on the track: “It’s true that we often fight with each other. Of course, it’s also about third place in the World Championship. He will definitely be strong for the rest of the season,” says Bastianini about Marquez. Just two points separate the two ahead of the last four events of the season.

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