Marc Marquez celebrates pole. /
Japan Grand Prix
Almost three years and four operations on his arm later, Marc Márquez has achieved an exciting underwater pole at the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.
Marc Marquez is back. A phrase that has been repeated too many times. But the truth is that the pole achieved this Saturday at the Motegi circuit (Japan) has immense emotional value. For everything that has happened in recent months and because, now, the light at the end of the tunnel almost dazzles him. Four months have passed since his fourth operation on his arm. The one in which he risked his sports career because he had considered it the last chance. And he has only needed a couple of grand prizes to prove that he will be the definitive one. Flashes of magic were already seen in his first test in Aragon, which have ended up overflowing in Japan.
It hardly matters anymore to think that the MotoGP qualifying practices were very close to being cancelled. The remains of typhoon Nanmadol have shaken the Motegi circuit today Saturday and for almost two hours, the action on the track was stopped by the amount of water that fell on the asphalt. At that time, the last minutes of Moto2 Q2 and the two MotoGP qualifying sessions were still to be played. Time was running against because there was less and less light in the environment. If the conditions did not improve, it would be impossible to get the bikes back on the track. Fortunately for everyone, the sky gave a break and the rest is history.
Water became a perfect ally for Marc Márquez. He had already led the last free practice of the morning, and in the first minutes of Q2 he was at the top of the standings, alternating in the lead with Frenchman Johann Zarco. Driving on wet asphalt is much less physically demanding than driving on dry. You have to be much sweeter on the bike. Have more tact than force and be very precise. Márquez did it perfectly, improving every lap to secure a pole that he hadn’t had for almost three years. Specifically, 1,071 days had passed. And precisely the last pole had been in this same Motegi circuit, owned by Honda and surrounded by the entire staff of the Japanese multinational. “I had to take advantage of the conditions. I have risked a lot but for now I feel more comfortable in the water than in the dry, where I still lack strength. I want to dedicate it to all the people who have helped me to return. I know it’s a wet pole position and that tomorrow it will be dry, but it doesn’t matter. We have to celebrate it.” The immense smile betrayed the happiness that the Cervera driver felt for pole position.
Aleix Espargaró ahead of his rivals
With the track conditions so difficult, the drivers who are in the battle for the title did not risk it in Q2, aware that they had more to lose than to gain. The best classified of the trio of candidates has been Aleix Espargaró, sixth, who will start from a completely Spanish second row along with Maverick Viñales and Jorge Martín. The leader Fabio Quartararo will do it from the ninth position and Pecco Bagnaia will start twelfth. That is, the three drivers who are in the battle for the title will line up on the grid in a row, one behind the other.
It is difficult to predict what kind of race awaits the drivers in dry conditions. Taking as a reference what was seen yesterday on the track, the equality between the three applicants was absolute. And they were one step ahead of the rest, although in the race they will have to overtake many rivals before reaching the lead. And then there is the Marc Márquez factor, whom no one rules out for the fight for victory, because he has the pace for it, but for whom the 24 laps can be very long. Since his return, he has never ridden so many kilometers in a row on a MotoGP bike and he ruled himself out of the fight because he sees it as impossible to reach the end of the race without suffering a physical downturn.
Before the exciting race that will start at eight in the morning on the Spanish mainland, the small categories will be held. Moto3 will start at five in the morning, with the local rider Tatsuki Suzuki starting from pole, and with the two Spaniards who are playing for the title in front: Sergio García third and Izan Guevara ninth. And in Moto2, which will start at twenty minutes past six, the pole was achieved by the Valencian rider Arón Canet, third classified in the championship and who is looking to rejoin the battle for the title. He is 37 points behind a leader Augusto Fernández, who will start eleventh, while his main rival, the Japanese Ai Ogura, will do so from thirteenth position.
