At the end of the Austin Grand Prix, there were long faces in the Ducati pit. It couldn’t have been any other way: Marc Marquez, on one of his best tracks, had finished no higher than 5th, while Bagnaia, after his podium finish in the Sprint, came in 10th. The new star of Inside Ducati Lenovo Team takes us behind the scenes of the weekend in Texas.
Everyone loves the trip to America, for the warmth of the fans and the city, but this year the problems were on the track. Marquez started the weekend poorly, with a crash during the first free practice session that left him with bruises and scrapes all over his body.
“I slammed into the wall; I was going at an incredible speed,” he recounted the incident to Pecco, acknowledging that, all things considered, he got off lightly.“I also spoke with Loris ( Capirossi, head of safety—ed.), but he told me that with an airfence there, it would have been worse.”
He apologized to the team:“I pushed too hard to be on that lap; I wanted to go fast but I was too optimistic. It was my fault.”
Unfortunately, however, the problems weren’t over. In the Sprint, Marc crashed, taking Di Giannantonio down with him, earning himself a Long Lap Penalty for Sunday. The race didn’t go that badly considering all the trouble the Spaniard went through, but it’s clear that something wasn’t working.
Marquez explained this to the engineers before leaving the circuit.“The bike is critical, but so am I. I’m struggling. The bike is one thing, but I’m another. They’re two different issues,” he said.
You can watch the full episode above.