On the training day in Indonesia, Marc Marquez also showed one of his saves on a Ducati for the first time – misunderstanding when helping “Pecco” Bagnaia back to the pits
The best times on MotoGP Friday for the 2024 Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika went to two Ducati riders, namely Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli in the morning and factory rider Enea Bastianini in the afternoon. But the scenes of the day were provided by two other Ducati riders, namely Gresini rider Marc Marquez and factory rider Francesco Bagnaia.
During the afternoon session, Marquez first showed one of his trademark saves. This time it was turn 10 of the Mandalika International Circuit. Turn 10 is a relatively slow right-hander at the beginning of the third sector.
It was on this very turn 10 of the racetrack on the island of Lombok that Marquez, on his Ducati GP23 of the Gresini team, managed to stop a slide at 80 km/h and 65 degrees of lean angle with just his right knee and right elbow, without crashing.
HOLY SMOKES!
How on earth did @marcmarquez93 pick it up?! IndonesianGP pic.twitter.com/yfmuCY3nYC
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“On the Ducati, that was definitely my best,” grins Marquez when asked about the save. Not only was it his best save on the Ducati so far, but on this bike, “to be honest, it was also my only one so far,” says the eight-time motorcycle world champion.
“Okay, I’ve had a minor save every now and then, but the really big ones were a long time ago,” says Marquez, thinking back to his Honda years. Regarding his save on Friday, he says with a grin: ‘Back then [at Honda], a lot of people were saying that I had an anti-fall system. I guess I’ve now installed that system on the Ducati too.’
In all seriousness, Marquez adds: “Of course it was a really great feeling to catch up. But as great as a save is for the show, it also shows that I’m not completely comfortable with something and we still have to improve that.”
In the afternoon session, Marquez managed to finish in P7, having finished in P6 in the morning session. “Pecco” Bagnaia finished fourth in the afternoon thanks to a final attack and thus also made it directly into the Q2 segment of qualifying for Saturday. In the morning, Bagnaia had once again started the weekend modestly with 14th place in the timesheet.
Misunderstanding: Marquez and Bagnaia ‘rehearse’ teamwork
And: After the afternoon training session, Bagnaia called on Marquez to pull him from turn 13 into the pit lane on his way out. The reason that “Pecco” resorted to the help of his teammate for next year was not a defect in his factory Ducati, but a dry tank.
“I thought that might happen because I had done one more lap. I wanted to make it to the pits, but it didn’t work out. Fortunately, Marc stopped,” Bagnaia reported.
The @ducaticorse taxi, MotoGP2025 edition IndonesianGP pic.twitter.com/MONdSarXEa
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As Marquez reveals, there was initially a misunderstanding when it came to providing assistance. Bagnaia first grabbed Marquez’s right arm and then his right thigh before Marquez finally placed his own right foot on the left footrest of Bagnaia’s Ducati. It was only from that moment on that the pulling worked properly.
“I thought he came up with the idea of using the footrest because it’s the simplest method in such a case,” says Marquez, grinning: ‘We just didn’t understand each other properly.’
The assistance itself was no big deal for Marquez. ‘’Pecco’ ran out of fuel right in front of me. When I saw him raise his hand, I waited to be able to pull him along. Once you cross the finish line, rivalry takes a back seat. If you can help someone who has stopped on the track in the heat, you help them,” said Marquez.