The Gresini Ducati rider failed to get out of Q1 two weeks ago at the French GP but managed to recover from 13th on the grid to finish second in both the sprint and grand prix at Le Mans.
At this weekend’s Catalan GP, Marquez qualified a lowly 14th due to difficulties in extracting the best from fresh soft rubber but recovered to second in the sprint and third on Sunday.
But speaking after the grand prix, Marquez says he is “not proud” of his recent fightbacks because it means it’s the result of “some mistakes”.
“I’m not proud about it, especially because if you make that comeback, it means that it’s coming from some mistakes,” he said.
“But apart from that, starting from that 14th position, I feel like it forced me to start on that soft rear option.
“I don’t know if it was better or worse, but in the end, I had that extra grip in the first laps to overtake the riders and in the end it was difficult, but even like this I caught the Aprilia guys on the medium and I had something more.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez was one of only four riders to gamble on the soft rear tyre but noted that he had some “guarantees” that it would go the 24-lap distance if he rode it correctly.
“I said to my team, ‘give me the medium from the warm-up to do the sighting lap, if I don’t have a good feeling I will put on the soft’,” he added.
“On that sighting lap, the feeling was not good and then I put the soft on.
“We know and we had some guarantees and we analysed that the soft rear was on the limit, but was able to finish the race. We managed in a good way.
“In the end, I suffered a lot to keep Aleix behind, but also he was suffering with that medium.”
Marquez sits third in the standings and is only 41 points behind Jorge Martin following the Catalan GP.
While he accepts he is a “contender” in the title race, it’s only because he sits third right now and this, he feels, is his “real position” on current form.
“Of course, we are a contender. Why? Because we are third in the championship after six races already,” Marquez said.
“But, we are third. And it’s our real position because there are two guys who are a bit faster.
“If we want to fight with them especially, we need to improve the qualifying.
“I know that being on the podium here in Montmelo is super special and super important because it’s one of those circuits that I hate.
“But apart from that, when I say it’s a difficult circuit for me I never give up and I try to do double work to work better.”
How many positions has Marquez made up in the last four races?
Starting from 13th at the French GP and 14th at Barcelona, Marquez has made up 45 positions.
Breaking this down further, Marquez’s race progression was:
French GP sprint – Starts 13th
Lap 1 – 13th to 4th
Lap 4 – 4th to 3rd
Lap 10 – 3rd to 2nd
French GP – Starts 13th
Lap 1 – 13th to 8th
Lap 3 – 8th to 6th
Lap 11 – 6th to 5th
Lap 14 – 5th to 4th
Lap 18 – 4th to 3rd
Lap 27 – 3rd to 2nd
Catalan GP sprint – Starts 14th
Lap 1 – 14th to 8th
Lap 3 – 8th to 7th
Lap 5 – 7th to 6th
Lap 7 – 6th to 4th
Lap 12 – 4th to 2nd
Catalan GP – Starts 14th
Lap 1 – 14th to 10th
Lap 3 – 10th to 8th
Lap 11- 8th to 6th
Lap 12 – 6th to 5th
Lap 18 — 5th to 4th
Lap 21 – 4th to 3rd
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