Red alert for Marc Márquez: "We don't have speed"

After the Brazilian Grand Prix in Goiânia, Marc Marquez was not in a good mood. Fourth place almost feels like a defeat, especially in light of the battle with Di Giannantonio, riding the same bike. Aprilia once again proved to be the fastest, and both Ducati and the reigning MotoGP champion will have to roll up their sleeves.

Victory in the Sprint, off the podium in the long race. "What was I missing? Speed. This is MotoGP. If you don’t have speed, you need a bit more. When I was fourth, the situation got worse because I was consuming a lot of front tire. I wanted to do 3–4 calmer laps, but that overtake threw the race off. Then I couldn’t get close enough to Di Giannantonio to pass him."

Marc Marquez tries to see the glass half full at the end of the MotoGP weekend in Brazil. Even though the riders’ standings show him 5th, 22 points behind the new leader Bezzecchi. "If we look at the Sprint together with the race we scored good points, but, logically, we’re missing a small piece, which is what we had last year and this year it seems that Bezzecchi and Martin have it with Aprilia."

Ducati will have a lot of work to do, but little time available. The MotoGP caravan is already flying to Texas, with the COTA circuit always a talisman for Marc Marquez. But against these in-form Aprilias, every Grand Prix will be an unknown.

The rider from Cervera tries to analyze on the spot what happened in Goiânia. "I don’t feel good, and that’s what I need to focus on. It’s one of the most difficult circuits for overtaking. When Diggia blocked me during the overtake, we went off track and Martín passed us. And when I overtook him, the track was a bit blocked and we all went off. It was the only way to overtake on this circuit."

The fact is that on the straights the Desmosedici GP26 has lost its aura of invincibility. "When you don’t have the speed we had last year, scoring points is even more important. Also, I still don’t feel comfortable yet. I hope that little by little I’ll feel better and that this way we can also gain speed."

After two races, Aprilia stands as queen of the MotoGP class. What does the RS-GP have that Ducati doesn’t? "I always consider the complete package: the rider and the bike. It’s not just the rider, or just the bike. It’s the package as a whole, and right now they’re getting great results," concluded Marc Marquez.