Álex Márquez arrived at the French Grand Prix with 18th place in the championship thanks to 8 points scored in Portugal, the 2021 record for falls in MotoGP (shared with Aleix Espargaró) and his morale is low.
He leaves rather satisfied, after crossing the finish line in sixth position, and even occupying fourth place four laps from the finish. A very good result for the man who qualified 19th and who owes this improvement above all to taking risks during a particularly eventful race...
The LCR pilot explains: “It was a good day for us, especially with the conditions changing a lot. I tried to ride slowly at first because I started to have some problems with the front brake and I didn't feel very good at that point. Then it started to rain, as the weather forecast predicted, and it was clear that we were going to enter the pitlane. The key was when I was with the slicks in the wet. In this round I gained a lot of positions and I also took a lot of risks. »
Álex Márquez talks about the fifth lap of the race, that is to say the last lap with the slicks before the bike change, during which the 2 Moto2019 world champion went from 15th to 11th position. A lightning change in the pitlane and the falls of the Suzukis allowed him to be in 6th place at the end of the sixth lap before grabbing 4th position with seven laps to go.
The brother of the eight-time world champion specifies: “I then went out with the medium tire at the front and the soft at the rear. We put a soft rear tire which gave me a better feeling on the first laps, but then I struggled on the last laps when the track became really dry. In the end the track was completely dry and it would have been possible to run on slicks, but there was not enough racing distance to make up for lost time. I think it was the right decision at the time. Petrucci and Bagnaia then overtook me with the medium rear tire. I had no chance on the straight because the tire was slipping. »
To Alex Marquez, all the problems are far from being resolved, and if the Catalan perhaps sees the end of the tunnel, he also wants to be realistic and cautious: “Regarding the whole weekend, I'm not happy. We had some problems with the bike and I didn't really feel comfortable. But this result gives us the necessary motivation to continue at Mugello. I hope it can be a turning point but now we come to Mugello and Assen, on circuits which are not really similar to Le Mans. Either way, on a dry track we still have a lot of work to do. I don't feel very good entering corners, and it was better in 2020. We need to understand why that is the case, so maybe we will be more competitive from FP1. Apart from that we can be quite happy, because this Sunday helps us build our confidence and we can go to Mugello 100% confident. »
Standings for the French MotoGP Grand Prix at Le Mans:
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
