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The rain that fell today at the Buriram track seemed to have offered Marc Marquez the perfect setting in which to take his fourth victory of the season, with the Gresini team's Ducati. A specialist in the wet, the eight-time champion was proving he had more than anyone in the Thai Grand Prix, until a crash in his second attack on Francesco Bagnaia ruined his plans, shattering all his chances of victory.
"We were the fastest today, but I could say that I lacked a bit of patience, as there were still 13 or 14 laps to go and I was doing the fastest lap," Marc said coldly, commenting on his crash and the strategy adopted in the race.
"I planned to make a very clean overtake on Bagnaia since I had the speed to do it. The strategy was to push and try to attack, and then if I couldn't pass him, to let the front tire warm up by being behind Pecco and then attack him again," he said. "I was doing a bit of a rubber band during the race. I was the fastest, so I didn't give up and tried to follow him and push on. However, for a degree and a half more of lean in the corner in my second attack I lost the front and couldn't make the save. I was very close, but we are human, we make mistakes and today was my turn. That's the way it went. Sometimes we won without being the fastest, while today we were the fastest and we made a mistake. These things happen."
Although the GP24 seemed to have an advantage over the GP23, Marquez was certain he had the potential to win.
"I kept studying which way to overtake Pecco. The trend was a little bit the same as yesterday: I was losing a lot in the first two sectors, although in the wet a little bit less than in the dry, and then I was a little bit faster than him in the third and fourth sectors. It was more difficult to overtake in these conditions, though," explained Marc, who had identified Turn 12 as the point at which to launch the attack: "Coming from some slow corners, that was the point where I had the best feeling and I was getting very close to him, while in all the other braking points I was much further away. I knew I had more opportunities because I was fast and already at the beginning of that lap thinking of making a good attack right at the last corner, but I couldn't do it."
Speaking more specifically about the differences between the Desmosedici models, he added, "The GP24 is definitely more advanced in some areas, but I felt good today and my GP23 was ready to win today. I will continue with today's mentality in Malaysia and Valencia. Then I'll have the new bike and we'll see. It's not certain that when I get on it I will be much faster, though, because all bikes have their pros and cons."
Back on track after the crash, the Spanish rider was the protagonist of a convulsive race finale. Marked by a contact with Joan Mir and the opening of his race suit after the airbag exploded.
"When the airbag deployed after the crash there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders, the safety system released and the suit opened a little bit. I think then the zipper came down further in the last step," explained Marc, who then talked about the dynamics of the incident with Mir.
"I haven't seen the images, I don't know from which angle they were taken, but if they are from the straight I was parallel to Mir already before the braking. In my opinion, he was trying not to give up after losing three positions on the previous lap and at one point he came off the brakes and went in. I didn't have any other options because I didn't have the rear brake anymore after the crash. I knew we were going to touch and that I was going to be penalized by giving up a position. So, I told myself that I would then go on the attack and try to catch the riders in front, after letting him pass and passing him again. And that's what I did," he explained.
The Spaniard then concluded with a comment about the race of his two rivals in the title fight: "Today Bagnaia recovered very well in the wet, however Martin was very solid. We'll see what happens in Malaysia."
