The last time Marc Márquez stood on the podium at Sachsenring, in 2021, he cried inconsolably. It was his first victory since the crash at the 2020 Spanish GP, which marked a turning point in his career. He had just undergone three operations on his right humerus and was competing in pain, unable to regain his devastating form on the bike since his ordeal with injuries began, which still had several blows in store for him. His year and a half without achieving a victory then seemed like an unrepeatable bad streak, but he arrives at the 2024 event already approaching 1,000 days without crossing the checkered flag first.
The paddock is currently pointing to the Gresini rider, who has already decided on his future with the official Ducati next year, as the main favourite to win despite his unusual drought. “The weekend will not be easy, not as easy as people predict,” the star of the show initially dismisses in the run-up to the German GP. After all, since 2010, no one has beaten him on the track on a Sunday, on what is his most prolific track, even above the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, with a total of 11 victories.
On this same favourite stage last year, he did not start the Grand Prix after accumulating five hard falls between Friday and Sunday, the last during the warm-up session. Within hours he decided not to run the race that had given him so much joy, fed up with so much suffering on the bike. On Saturday he had finished eleventh in the sprint, which is his only defeat in 14 years on the left-hand track that suits his riding style so well – in 2020 the race was not contested and in 2022 he was out after his fourth intervention on his arm. The refusal to ride in the German garden, physically in pain and mentally crushed, ended up pushing him to leave Honda. His departure, in fact, was forged during the plane trip back to Madrid on the same Sunday.
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“A year ago I was very close to saying enough, to putting an end to my career,” admits Márquez, recalling his double withdrawal from the Assen and Sachsenring races last year. The traumatic departure from the brand of his life has allowed him to achieve all the objectives he set himself in an all-or-nothing move. “In six or seven races the team has managed to create a good atmosphere and rebuild a rider who a year ago was about to retire, he was very lost,” the rider stresses about his current team, the only one that decided to wait for him as long as necessary to give him shelter. At Gresini, a family team that has allowed him to regain his smile, his competitiveness and to climb onto the most complete bike on the grid, the 93 has once again felt like a rider in top condition.
That doesn’t mean he shares the favouritism that the rest of his rivals give him. “If we have a perfect weekend, I feel good and I’m going fast, at most I’ll be at the level of Jorge and Pecco to fight for the podium and the victory. Hopefully,” he says. He is referring to Martín, the leader of the competition, and Bagnaia, the current defender of the crown and his future teammate. Both of them contested a thrilling race here in 2023, which was not decided until the last corner in favour of the Madrid native, who this year will also be able to study his telemetry. “He has the potential to fight for victory, we know how good he is on left-hand circuits and here he will try everything,” predicts the Italian.
Whatever happens, Márquez continues to be cautious in his statements. Yes, victory could come, it is the ideal place, but as much as it breaks the drought, he is not yet considering joining the two fastest riders in the category. “The objective of any rider is to win, but this year it is difficult to think about the title. I can be fast on some circuits, but these two are faster and much more consistent, which is necessary to think about the championship. In any case, for me, this year has already been a great success,” he concludes.
Those close to him celebrate the maturity with which Marc faces an event that in the past he arrived at with aspirations of victory. These two years and seven months of drought do not weigh on his mind, he does not even take them into account, and he remains focused on the objective of having fun, being fast and continuing to improve on the Ducati GP23, the same bike that crowned his two great rivals last year. “The important thing is that victory is not an obsession, but a consequence that will come sooner or later thanks to all the sacrifice and work of recent years,” says his assistant and close friend, José Luis Martínez.
This weekend also represents the last chance for rookie Pedro Acosta, who has won several races with his GasGas, to beat Márquez’s record for precocity in the top class. It is a circuit that has suited him well, with two wins and a second place in his three world championship visits. “We’ll see how things start and then we’ll see,” said the 20-year-old from Murcia, cautious in his predictions.
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2024-07-05 03:15:00
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