In the deluge of the France Grand Prix, Marc Marquez conquered a second master place, despite a small mistake that he himself defined the only drawback of a flag-to-flag race with heart-pounding. The Ducati pilot extended his advantage in the ranking at 22 points, taking advantage of the falls of the rivals Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez, on a chaotic Sunday in Le Mans.
The weekend had started with the triumph of Marquez on Saturday’s sprint, but Sunday’s race was a real test. After the abortion of the initial departure, with all the drivers passed on to the wet tires, Marquez and others opted for the dry tires at the end of the reconnaissance tour. A choice that, according to the new post-cos rules of Cota, involved a double Long Lap penalty to be served during the race.
Marquez admitted that he made a small mistake in the first attempt to serve the penalty: “I tried to follow Alex to face the Long Lap in the same way, so as to have someone in front of the wet curves,” he toldAfter the Flagof MotoGP. “But I almost dabbed Ferin Alduguer and I was not sure I completed the lap. So I decided not to risk and I postponed. It was the only mistake, but otherwise everything went as planned.” With 20 points in your pocket, added to the victory of the sprint, Marquez defined the weekend “very positive”.
The Spanish pilot also revealed that the experience of the fall to Jerez helped him avoid errors similar to Le Mans. “Without that mistake in Spain, maybe today I would have done another,” he confessed. “I was concentrated, trying to maximize the points without overdoing it. The first five or six returned were crazy, and mentally it was very hard to understand what to do. The track changed continuously: less water, more water, grip that varied. Adapting the driving style under these conditions was complicated.”
When the pilots returned to wet tires and the penalties were obvious, Johann Zarco, who started with the Rain, took the command on the eighth lap. Marquez, who was about eight seconds of detachment, tried to reduce the gap, but soon realized that the rhythm of the Frenchman was unreachable. Zarco closed the race with almost 20 seconds of advantage.
“Today was faster than us,” Marquez admitted. “I pushed for a couple of laps, hoping that he consumed the tires, because sometimes after a few rounds on the dry with the rain they destroy themselves. But I saw that I had only earned three tenths, sometimes nothing. With eight seconds of gap, I decided to manage the distance from Alex rather than risking.”
Marquez has once again shown his talent and his ability to adapt in extreme conditions, consolidating leadership in the championship. In Le Mans, between rain, chaos and penalties, the “king of Cervera” has shone, with one, small mistake to remind us that the champions are human.
