Marc Márquez said on Friday that he had not danced on the bike since last year’s Japanese GP. “Have I forgotten, perhaps?” he joked. This Saturday it became clear that no. In front of the dedicated fans who endured the morning downpour in Jerez, the Spanish Ducati rider danced again to take a creditable pole position and put himself within reach of his 100th World Cup victory. Taking advantage of the wet asphalt and the difficult conditions that he has always known how to take advantage of better than anyone, the world champion achieved first position on the grid, taking the colors of a large part of the grid with a 1.48.087. Only the Frenchman Johann Zarco, notorious second on the Honda LCR, was able to keep up with him, the rest of the drivers more than a second behind the leader of the grid.
“The conditions have helped, in the dry Álex was one step ahead of the rest. In water you have to flow more, without exaggerating so much or pushing so much, and there I feel more comfortable,” commented Márquez, still cautious about his possibilities for the race. sprint in the afternoon and the race on Sunday. “We will have to understand what our level is in the races, see how Álex and Diggia are doing, who were very strong in the dry,” he added from the parc ferme of the Andalusian track. , the best on Friday, suffered a fall during his best lap and could only finish fifth in qualifying, while the Italian from VR46 will occupy third place.
“There will be many of us in the lead, so it will be a nice fight,” Di Giannantonio warned about the races. After his words, the first rays of sun were already drying the asphalt and heating up the atmosphere even more at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary and has long since become a heritage (material and intangible) of motorcycling and sports in general.
Márquez, who has experienced some of his best and worst moments in front of the most vibrant fans of the competition, achieved his third pole on the track and will now look for a victory that has eluded him since 2019. The following year, in this same scenario, his ordeal of injuries began that has led him to operate on his right arm up to seven times, but here he also began to be reborn in 2024 with his pole and victory in sprintin addition to the first podium on Sunday.
The 93 is currently negotiating its third worst drought of victories in MotoGP: it has been nine grand prix and seven months without reaching the top of the podium, and it had been eight (since Hungary 2025) since it had the best time in the fight against the clock. After completing training on Friday, the Catalan finished confirming that his right arm, a week after winning in Motegi, is once again in optimal condition to compete at the highest level. And dance.
