Marc Marquez admitted to some ‘disappointment’ at seeing his slender 2024 MotoGP title hopes go up in smoke after engine failure compelled him to retire from the Indonesian Grand Prix.
After scything his manner from twelfth on the grid to complete third in Saturday’s dash race, Marquez was within the combine for the same outcome on Sunday too till his year-old Gresini Ducati cried sufficient on lap 12 of 27 whereas operating seventh.
After two wins in three rounds reignited hope of a late cost in direction of a seventh MotoGP riders’ title, Marquez is now 78 factors shy of Indonesia winner Jorge Martin within the standings and accepts he’s out of the operating with 5 rounds left to run.
“I’m unhappy [to be out of contention] however my targets [for 2024] are already full,” stated Marquez, who has secured a berth alongside Francesco Bagnaia on the manufacturing facility Ducati crew in 2025.
“I’m simply setting targets with every race, I’m looking for consistency within the race so it was good I used to be doing that.
“The following step is to enhance qualifying, so I’ll tremendous focus on the subsequent one to be higher and be on the primary two rows. That is my subsequent goal.”
Having had his preliminary progress up the leaderboard hindered by a fierce however time-sapping tussle with Fabio di Giannantonio, Marquez nonetheless felt he had the tempo to go along with eventual podium finisher Bagnaia previous to retirement.
“A damaged engine, sadly,” he stated. “It’s one thing that’s not in our arms, however it generally occurs and in the present day it occurred to me.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs
“We have been tremendous unfortunate however along with Ducati, Gresini and myself, we win collectively and we lose collectively. Right now we had an issue, however I felt good over the weekend and that is most vital.
“We have been there in a battle within the first a part of the race, and in a battle like that you simply simply lose time. I had the tempo to be behind Pecco in a great way and I knew my goal of third or the highest 5 was beneath management behind Pecco.”
With a subsequent hearth leaving the GP23 irreparably broken, Marquez admits his Gresini Racing crew faces an uphill activity to make sure it’s prepared for the subsequent spherical in Japan only a few days away.
“There was an enormous noise on the again and the engine stopped, however after I noticed the white smoke, I checked instantly [for fire],” he defined.
“It’s a disgrace as a result of the extinguishers they’ve right here aren’t the proper ones, so the bike was utterly broken. It’s a disgrace for the crew as a result of for a non-public crew it’s a massive value.”
Reflecting on an entertaining tussle with di Giannantonio that noticed the 2 riders swap place – and nearly paint – on a number of events, Marquez admits he’d solely discover his rhythm as soon as the Italian crashed out on lap 9.
“We began to have a battle with Diggia, which he was exaggerating a bit,” he added.
“He crashed as a result of he had that mushy rear tyre, so he was pushing quite a bit to start with and late braking.
“However as soon as he crashed I began to get my rhythm and I used to be getting sooner and sooner, so we have been unfortunate.”