Marc Marquez

Fighting fourth from Marquez ignites the Spanish GP crowd

Spain, May 2022: It might not have been the podium he was aiming for, but Marc Marquez showed he’s ready to fight with a spirited ride to fourth as Pol Espargaro collected 11th place.

Crowds at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España were back to their best as the flocked to the hills of the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto from dawn. Pushing 60,000, the home fans were wanting a show and the 25-lap MotoGP race certainly didn’t disappoint.

Initially launching off the line well, Marc Marquez found Aleix Espargaro in his path and had to alter his trajectory through the opening corner but quickly passed the Aprilia rider. A three-way game of chess would quickly emerge between Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and Miller as the trio tested each other for the majority of the race with a podium finish in view. The powder keg would ignite in the closing laps, Marquez attacking Miller and moving into third place with just five laps to go and with Miller so strong on the brakes, Marquez knew that attacking through the fast Turn 5 would be his best option as their chess game escalated.

From there it was a brawl as Marquez, Miller and Espargaro battled – an incredible save from the #93 at the final corner allowing Espargaro to just break away. A fired-up Marquez refused to let the moment hold him back as he fought until the very end with Miller, pushing his Honda RC213V to the limit and sending the crowd into a frenzy as he left long black lines around the track as Marquez looked to get past Miller again. 13 points in his pocket, Marquez moves up two positions into ninth overall in the championship and sits 45 points behind defending World Champion Fabio Quartararo.

Pol Espargaro once again executed a great start to the race and made up a handful of positions from 13th on the grid in the opening corners. Running wide at Turn 5 on the opening lap left Espargaro with some work to do and he became entangled in a race-long battle with Brad Binder and Oliveira. Taking 11th place, the #44 had hoped to achieve more after showing promising pace during the weekend but the rising temperatures of Sunday left Espargaro unable to conjure his speed.

The Repsol Honda Team will now remain in Jerez for the first in-season test of the year, a brief but important Monday test at the 4.4-kilometre-long track. The objective for both Marquez and Espargaro is to find the speed and feeling they had during the winter tests and return to consistently battling at the front of the field.

 Marc Marquez (Fourth)

“Today I gave my maximum and achieved the maximum. I saved my energy through the whole weekend to be ready for Sunday because I’m still not in the condition to do a whole weekend at 100%. It’s the Spanish GP, I had to give it everything on race day. At one point in the race, I thought maybe the podium was possible, the key point was overtaking Miller and stopping Aleix because he was faster than us. This is what I tried to do but then at the last corner I lost the front and the rear but fortunately the Spanish crowd were there to pick me up and save the crash! We don’t give up; we keep pushing and now we prepare for an important Monday test.”

 Pol Espargaro (11th)

“The grip was really low today with the temperature and in conditions like this I suffer a lot more, more than my teammate and more than other riders. In the first lap I almost high sided at Turn 5 and I lost some positions, but to recover in MotoGP is really difficult. Fortunately, we have a test tomorrow and we need to get to work to return to what we found during winter. We have to work from the moment we are in and find solutions to the problems we are having. Patience is key here, the good times will come but we need to keep our heads down and work.”

 Gran Premio Red Bull de España Race Results

Pos. Rider Num Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 BAGNAIA FRANCESCO 62 25 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 41’00.554
2 QUARTARARO FABIO 20 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.285
3 ESPARGARO ALEIX 41 16 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 10.977
4 MARQUEZ MARC 93 13 Repsol Honda Team Honda 12.676
5 MILLER JACK 43 11 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 12.957
6 MIR JOAN 36 10 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 13.934
7 NAKAGAMI TAKAAKI 30 9 LCR Honda Honda 14.929
8 BASTIANINI ENEA 23 8 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 18.436
9 BEZZECCHI MARCO 73 7 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 18.83
10 BINDER BRAD 33 6 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20.056
11 ESPARGARO POL 44 5 Repsol Honda Team Honda 20.856
12 OLIVEIRA MIGUEL 88 4 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 23.131
13 MARQUEZ ALEX 73 3 LCR Honda Honda 25.306
14 VINALES MAVERICK 12 2 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 27.358
15 MORBIDELLI FRANCO 21 1 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 27.519
16 MARINI LUCA 10 0 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 29.278
17 DOVIZIOSO ANDREA 4 0 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 35.204
18 DI GIANNANTONIO FABIO 49 0 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 35.361
19 RINS ALEX 42 0 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 38.922
20 GARDNER REMY 87 0 Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 43.378
21 SAVADORI LORENZO 32 0 Aprilia Racing Test Team Aprilia 44.299
22 MARTIN JORGE 89 0 Pramac Racing Ducati 1’07.681
23 BRADL STEFAN 6 0 HRC Test Team Honda DNF
24 ZARCO JOHANN 5 0 Pramac Racing Ducati DNF
25 BINDER DARRYN 40 0 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha DNF

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Points Team Constructor
1 QUARTARARO FABIO 20 89 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
2 ESPARGARO ALEIX 41

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