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Nadia Padovani had told us that 2025 would be the year of Alex Marquez, and judging by this start to the championship, she would seem to have been right. On the perfect weekend of his older brother Marc, the 28-year-old Catalan brought home the maximum obtainable, repeating in the Thai Grand Prix the place of honor he took yesterday in the Sprint Race. Once again caught in the grip of the two official Ducati riders with his Desmosedici GP24, Alex managed the race with attention and lucidity. Even caressing the idea of taking the victory in the first GP of the season, when the eight-time world champion kindly handed over to him the first position, so he could take his slipstream until three laps to go.
"To start like this is great and I would have put my signature on it if they had told me I would finish second in the Sprint and the long race. I am very happy and it is really good to start like this. We did a fantastic job already yesterday and today even more so, because it was a really tough race for me, especially when I was leading. These are races where you suffer a lot, but you gain experience in handling and riding the bike properly. For me it was the perfect race: I just tried to ride well, without exaggerating and without making mistakes," Alex told the press conference. "I got a little bit to the limit with the rear tire, but that's normal. I am really very happy with my weekend. I am still a little bit behind the level of Marc and Pecco, but we have a good base to work on. This is a very good starting point, better than I expected before we started the preseason."
The Team Gresini rider went on to explain what he thought the moment Marc handed him the race lead.
"First of all I thought that there might be some flags, because I was at the corner apex and I didn't see any panel on, but there could have been. Then I said to myself that maybe he had some problem, I had the same little problem as him later in the race, and that's when I realized he was low on pressure and wanted to warm up the front tire," he said, "I made some mistakes at that juncture because I got distracted, as I expected him to continue to lead and give me a reference so that I wouldn't make mistakes and maintain the gap. I am happy in any case with what I did and, as I said before, these are the races that give you the experience to take a step forward as a MotoGP rider."
What was it like leading all those laps, with the eight-time world champion's Ducati in your exhausts? "It was long and really hard, but I think it was even harder for Marc and Pecco, who were behind and taking all the hot air from my bike," the Spaniard replied, "So, I tried to focus on myself and ride as if it was a practice session, not making mistakes."
In the last laps when he was in the lead, it almost seemed as if Alex had better acceleration than Marc, but the direct participant is not of the same opinion.
"Actually, it was the opposite for me: I felt that the bike was moving a lot, I was losing performance there and I realized that my tires were almost at the end of their life, but I tried to keep pushing until the end. I know I used the rear tire a little more than he did because I was leading and trying to make my own pace. I tried to stay focused until the end, but two corners after he had passed me I realized it was impossible to follow him and I tried to push and control the situation until the last, to try to keep Pecco behind me," the Ducati rider explained.
The hard work put in over the winter is bearing fruit and allowed the two-time world champion to experience the joy of sharing a new podium with his brother.
"There are no words to describe how it feels to be on the podium with your brother. It is immense happiness to be first and second in a MotoGP weekend. It is like a dream, but we have to work to keep this momentum going as long as possible. We will do our best and I will try to continue to have fun as I do in training. It's good to see that all the work we've done is bringing results," he commented, "I've been having a lot of fun since the first day I tried this bike. From the first outing with this bike in Catalunya I was able to be very fast, ride the way I wanted and have fun, which was my main goal, because the more fun you have, the faster you are. With my riding style, with last year's bike I was struggling a lot in different places, but the experience I gained with that bike now is helping me. We're doing well now, but I think we can get even more out of the GP24. Also because there are still some points where we can improve. I have to keep studying what Pecco and Marc do best, because we can't stop working if we want to improve."
Photo credit: Pier Luca Brunetti
