MotoGP, Marquez: "Liberation? I actually feel free since I left Honda."

Marc Marquez finally brought an end to a very long winless period by dominating the Aragon Sprint Race today. The nitpickers may say that this is not a real victory, because for that one has to win on Sunday. But it is undeniable that the Marquez seen today in Aragon closely resembles the war machine that dominated MotoGP between 2013 and 2019. Tomorrow he can hit his goal of winning the GP as well, in the meantime he is enjoying a day of celebration and the Marc who arrives at the meeting with journalists has the face of a happy guy, because he is aware that he has somehow chased away some of his demons.

"Maybe it's because I'm ambitious and I'm always aiming for something special, but I'm telling myself all the time that I won but today is Saturday and in the end it's just a Sprint - were Marquez's words - but of course I'm happy, because I made a really impressive pole with the Ducati, I made a perfect Sprint from the first to the last lap. So I would say it's a step forward in all aspects and I know that tomorrow if I keep this concentration maybe I can really take the win."

You had no rivals. Did you expect that?
"I knew that the only ones who could really challenge me today were Martìn and Bagnaia. But I was sure that with a good start of my own I could create a gap. Then Pecco had a problem at the start, I think it was due to the dirty track. Martìn lost some ground in the first lap so I felt more comfortable. Only tomorrow if there is a little more grip on the track, they will both be strong and I will have to fight with them. It won't be like today."

Your brother Alex joked earlier that he ended up winning before you on the Ducati!
"Alex won before me, true! In fact he is teasing me! We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Do you think something has changed or is this dominance the result of special conditions?
"This race is not enough to change my reference, just as it would not have been correct to think such things at Silverstone or the Red Bull Ring. Every track offers different conditions, everything can change quickly. Even the standings can change quickly, and certainly if I were 50 points behind the first today maybe it would be different. But the truth is that I would like to experience a season like Pecco's, who is fast everywhere and then maybe suffers on one track. I think that's the condition to look for next year. Here we went strong but we need to confirm this speed in Misano and then in the other tracks."

Do you feel the pressure for the long-awaited victory tomorrow? Everyone is betting on you.
"I'm calm honestly, winning has never been an obsession for me this season because my goal was to find my speed again and figure out what my level is today. It certainly always makes me happy when I get on the track and see that I am already faster than others. But I try not to put too much pressure on myself. That said, I know I have a good chance to win tomorrow."

How do you explain this dominance here?
"One of the strengths of my riding style has always been to be very explosive, even when the conditions are as strange as they are here. Maybe that's why with this type of asphalt I have fewer problems than others and it's something that has happened to me several times in my career. I would say it's a condition I can interpret well."

Nice to come back to win on one of your favorite tracks.
"Winning is always special, but doing it here in Aragon obviously has a different flavor. I hope tomorrow I can do it again, because here the crowd has been crazy and I would like to do it for them as well."

Does a victory mean liberation for you?
" I actually feel liberated since the beginning of the year, regardless of the fact that I won today. I say that because I feel like I have been liberated from difficult years, from injuries, from what I went through. It is a liberation process that started when I really made my decision last year to leave Honda to get on the best bike on the grid, to understand what my true potential is today. It didn 't make sense to think in different terms for me, it didn't make sense to think about other factors other than sport. I just wanted to make a good decision for my sporting career, to do the best I could on the track."

Is the world championship a pipe dream for you, or can something change? Martìn and Bagnaia say you are in the fight.
"It's a very long championship and it's also nice that my rivals are keeping me in mind for the title, but in my opinion it's a goal that realistically I have to postpone to the future. I have to try to bring myself closer to the championship leader, that's clear. But this season I wanted to try to learn step by step, I'm preparing as best I can for next season and I'm having so much fun with the Gresini family. We have a perfect atmosphere in the team and I would like to continue like this until the end of the year."

Could you win like this on other tracks between now and the end of the year?
"I think unfortunately this condition is more due to racing at MotorLand than a real change. Certainly even at the Red Bull Ring I was really close, but for various reasons I couldn't fight with them. Tomorrow I will try to race as well as I did today, but I think if the grip gets slightly better, Pecco and Martìn could get quite close. I will certainly try to keep them behind tomorrow as well."

Was it the best moment of the year for you?
"Actually maybe I enjoyed it more when I got my first podium in the Sprint of the season than today with the win. Maybe it's because I feel the pressure for tomorrow. I know I will have an opportunity tomorrow to finish the weekend perfectly. I'm happy, but I'm also very focused to continue on this level. Tomorrow will be tough, it won't be like today."

Tomorrow there will also be better management of tire wear, a factor that worries you?
"I think tire consumption will be important tomorrow. I do very well with front grip, which other riders don't have. Tomorrow I think I have to push even harder than today to win and at the same time manage the tires. Today the race lasted very little for me because I was having the time of my life. Tomorrow I know I will have to manage this extra confidence carefully because the risk is to make some mistakes."

Photocredit@ Pier Luca Brunetti