Marc Marquez: “We destroyed our weekend with the qualifying crash”

Statistics show that no rider has ever won a Misano MotoGP race from lower than eighth on the grid.

That was by Dani Pedrosa in 2016, while Marc Marquez’s 2021 win from seventh ranks as the next-best comeback.

It took until last weekend’s Aragon round for Marquez to win a MotoGP race again, also his first on a Ducati.

Arriving at the Italian track ‘fuelled’ by the victory high, Marquez was straight in contention again with second behind Francesco Bagnaia in Friday practice.

But a costly crash during his finally qualifying run on Saturday morning left him just ninth on the grid.

Unable to make early progress on the notoriously hard to pass track in the afternoon Sprint race, the Gresini rider gradually worked his way up to fifth place - passing Pedro Acosta on the final lap.

Frustratingly for Marquez, when he wasn’t stuck behind other bikes, the eight-time world champion set the same mid-1m 31s pace as race leaders Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

“We are happy given the place we start, but we destroyed our weekend with the qualifying crash,” Marquez said. 

"That mistake meant we couldn't finish the lap and it was a lap to be on the second row. 

"But unfortunately, starting ninth, it becomes super difficult to overtake here.

"I still did some nice overtakes and we arrived at the maximum [we could], especially because the GP24s opened a gap.

"Let's see if tomorrow in the longer race we can have a good start and fight with them."

With Enea Bastianini finishing fourth, Marquez is now tied on points with the factory Ducati rider for third in the world championship.

Brother and team-mate Alex Marquez impressed by leading Qualifying 1 and began the race ahead of the #93 in seventh, but lost ground on the opening lap.

“It wasn’t an easy race, but I must say it was a positive Saturday in which we were able to turn the weekend around a bit thanks to entering Q2 and doing a good qualifying,” said Alex, who finished in tenth.

“I made a few mistakes at the beginning of the race, but the pace is not too bad and I think we can battle for the top ten tomorrow.”

While all riders raced the soft rear on Saturday, the medium rear tyre will also come into play for the full-length race.