Marc Márquez (1st) – “It was the perfect Saturday, and the best way to start this new journey with the Ducati Lenovo Team. Both pole position and sprint race win are important and I’m happy, but I know that tomorrow’s race is what counts the most. We’ll try to be consistent: Pecco is very strong as so is Alex, who showed his speed both in testing and in the weekend so far.”
Alex Marquez (2nd) – “Honestly, we did our best, we just didn’t have the pace to take the fight to Marc and we knew we could have been competitive against Bagnaia, at least on the sprint-race distance. Generally speaking, it was already an excellent Saturday from the morning. Thing will be a bit more complicated tomorrow, but we must at least aim at a repeat performance. The factory riders have something more, but we studied them, and we’ll continue to do so to try and stay with them also tomorrow. We’ll do our race and look for consistency, which the most important thing.”
Francesco Bagnaia (3rd) – “It was a positive race, especially in light of how things went during testing and after what happened yesterday. Clearly, we can be only 60 to 70% satisfied, as we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to make a full evaluation of the weekend. We still need to make some steps forward ahead of the race as I struggled a bit today, especially with regards to the front-end. Tomorrow’s race is going to be a long one and there isn’t a harder option available than the one I used today; the tyre choice will be crucial, but I saw some interesting things today on the track and we’ll work based on this and the data we gathered.”
Ai Ogura (4th) – “That was a good surprise to be straight into Q2 today. Overall, the feeling on the bike was great. It’s my first MotoGP weekend, my first Friday in this class and I think we can be super happy about today. Surely, the two days of testing here helped me as a rookie, maybe it’s going to be more difficult at another circuit. But the result is the result and I’m really happy about it. There are many more places to improve, even when my lap time was ok today, I was not riding consistently, so we will work on that. For tomorrow, I don’t have any expectations, just racing.”
Franco Morbidelli (5th) – “I did the best Sprint I could do. In the first laps, I tried to pass Ogura, who did a good race, but I couldn’t do more than this because it was extremely hot, and I struggled breathing and riding normally. It was a very tough race, maybe one of the toughest ever, but we could be in Top5 and this is a great way to start. Tomorrow it will be hard as well because of the temperature, and it will be a resistance race, but we’re one of the fastest on the grid”.
Pedro Acosta (6th) – “Well, we made a mess in the first corner, and I was not able to engage the front device. I lost positions and the temperature for the tire went up so quickly. It became a bit difficult. Our goal was the top five and to be consistent and, after what happened, I think we need to be happy. I had the yellow flags in the quali and lost the best two runs of the tire. But Q2 was not too bad. We’ll be starting from 6th tomorrow [Franco Morbidelli has a 3-place grid penalty] and the second row and that will be a bit better.”
Fabio Quartararo (7th) – “Today we gave it our all. Maybe we could have done one position better, but today we had some difficulties with the front tyre temperature. Let’s see if we can do better tomorrow, but, for sure, the longer Race will be difficult for the tyres. I think that if we manage the tyre temperature a bit better tomorrow, we might already be able to get a bit closer.”
Brad Binder (8th) – “I don’t have the all-out pace unfortunately to make the time attack for Q2 and 14th place was as good as it would get for me today. I went out in the race to try and attack early and fight hard and push to the end but it was really tricky. It was super-hot and the front and rear tyre cooked so quickly. It was so important to try and stay chilled and not over-spin. It was tricky to try and figure things out at the beginning because I ran into trouble after about three laps. Other than that I don’t think I can complain too much. I started 14th and finished 8th in a half-distance race so I would like a lot more but that was the best I could achieve today.”
Joan Mir (9th) – “It was a hard Sprint today, we had some drama at the start with Bezzecchi, he spun, and I had to close the throttle to avoid him. After that I had one of my comebacks, working hard to make up places and in the end, I was able to finish with the group I have been with more or less all weekend – Fabio, Binder, Acosta etc. The heat has a big impact and limited us in several ways. There’s work to do to improve everything, but as a first Sprint of the season I think we have to be happy.”
Johan Zarco (10th) – “The heat was tough to handle, and I struggled to overtake one of my rivals. We were really close to the points, but a lack of grip made it hard to maintain the pace. I made too many mistakes and missed the opportunity in this first Sprint. However, with the information we gathered, we’ll do our best to fight for points in tomorrow’s race.”
Raul Fernandez (11th) – “I’m really happy. A nice bike is a fast bike! We should speak to Gulf and ask if we can do the whole season like this because it was really good for Ai and me. It was a really positive day. We need to improve more as I didn’t extract 100% of the potential of the bike – I still need to understand the bike better and we are still in the process. I lost three days of testing in the preseason, which made it harder, but I’m here and happy to be in Q2. Tomorrow we have another opportunity to continue to understand the bike and there are two or three corners in which I still want to work to get closer to Ai and Marco (Bezzecchi). But we are in Q2, this is important for the team and important for me personally. It wasn’t an easy month, but I was lucky to be back at the test and here now.”
Marco Bezzecchi (12th) – “It was a tough day; unfortunately, I experienced some difficulties from the morning session onwards. The start was a shame – my grid spot was a little dirty. These things happen; others have had it in the past, and today it was my turn. The data shows that my start procedure was identical to the ones I practised, so the issue was purely down to the lack of grip in my grid position. I did well in the sprint – managing several overtakes – but when you’re at the back, the situation is always the same: if you don’t get some clean air with fewer riders ahead, everything becomes much harder after a few laps.”
Fermin Aldeguer (13th) – “I’m happy with having completed my first sprint race. I struggled, because this is a new experience for me but it helped head of tomorrow. I made many mistakes on track, I wasn’t used to race with so many riders ahead of me, but we’re happy. If we can find a couple of tenths tomorrow, then we’ll be competitive, the top ten would be an acceptable result.”
Luca Marini (15th) – “A tough race for everyone in this temperature, the heat was more intense than in the race last year and the test so we all had to manage our riding. For tomorrow we will work on improving how we perform in these conditions. We know what we need to do and we have to be satisfied with what we’ve done – also this morning. We have made a step and we need to keep going on like this.”
Miguel Oliveira (16th) – “I struggled a bit, especially with the front end of the bike, as I felt like I had no grip. I thought my tyre pressure was sky-high, but in reality, it was fine. However, that lack of confidence when releasing the brakes into the corners cost me a lot. Considering I started so far back on the grid, finishing just six seconds behind Fabio wasn‘t too bad. Right now, we can‘t compare ourselves to the top guys; we‘re still behind. What we need to do is use the first Yamaha as a reference. Tomorrow‘s race will be even longer and tougher, so I‘m not sure what to expect. It will probably be even more challenging than today. I need to focus on the start because the first couple of laps will be crucial.”
Álex Rins (17th) – “I’m struggling to manage the pace at the beginning of the race. It’s true that in the last five laps I was quite competitive. I was riding mid-1’31s, matching the lap times of Fabio and the riders he was battling with. We have information to analyse, and we will try to change something for tomorrow.”
Somkiat Chantra (19th) – “It was an amazing experience! I learned a lot, and it felt incredible to race in front of my home crowd. Tomorrow’s race will be long, but I’ll give my best and keep learning step by step”.
Lorenzo Savadori (20th) – “We’re still working on the set-up, and doing that during a race weekend isn’t easy. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve done more than 10 consecutive laps on the RS-GP25, but we still gathered some valuable insights. I’ll attempt another step forward tomorrow because we’ve anyway closed the gap. I’m pleased to see Aprilia competitive on a track that we’ve historically found tough. Seeing Ogura go so fast also shows that we’re working in the right direction. A rookie jumping on a new bike and pushing it to the limit quickly is seriously impressive.”
Fabio Di Giannatonio (DNF) – “It’s a pity we couldn’t finish the race, because the bike has a huge potential, and I was feeling very strong today. Unfortunately, the bike was burning since the first lap. I’m sorry for the team, but I couldn’t take it anymore with two laps to go. Apart from this problem, the feeling was very good. This morning, we changed something on the bike that allows me to be fast and this is positive. Physically, I’m getting used to the pain, I’m not at my 100%, but improving the bike helps me in riding better”.
Jack Miller (DNF) – “This is not how I wanted the first Sprint Race of the season to go, but it is what it is. I was pushing hard despite some warnings from the bike, with a bit of understeer in a few corners. I kept pushing when I should have used my head a bit more. But you know, after four months without racing and immediately being so competitive, it‘s easy to get carried away. I was trying to stay with Morbidelli, who was also pushing to catch Bagnaia, hoping their battle would help me close the gap while I was pulling away from the riders behind me. It‘s a shame because I was really enjoying my race, but hopefully, we can learn from this and improve tomorrow. That said, I‘m enjoying riding this bike, and hopefully, we can come away with a good result tomorrow.”
