Marc Marquez says his comeback MotoGP weekend at the Italian Grand Prix deserved a perfect 10 out of 10 score, although he admitted he was “still far” from where he wished to be.
After missing the Sunday race at Le Mans and the entire Catalan GP due to injury, the factory Ducati rider returned to action at Mugello this weekend and immediately found himself back at the sharp end of the pack.
The reigning champion took risks in Friday practice to earn a direct entry into Q2, before qualifying fourth as the leading Ducati rider. He even briefly led Saturday’s sprint race before finishing fifth, but it was on Sunday where he truly shone, as he battled his physical limitations to grab seventh.
The highlight of his race was a long and intense battle with KTM’s Pedro Acosta, with Marquez doing everything in his power to hold off his countryman before eventually conceding the position.
Given the reservations he had about his form heading into the weekend, Marquez said he can take immense satisfaction from how he performed at Mugello.
“Honestly, I’m very happy with how the weekend went, and we exceeded expectations,” the Ducati rider said. “I had doubts about coming or not, because it’s very difficult to drive on this circuit when you’re under pressure. But I decided to come and we had a fantastic weekend.
“I showed glimpses of speed, even if only briefly, but I decided to go out there and give it my all, and whatever happened, happened.”
Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Marquez eventually finished Sunday’s race 10.7s behind winner Marco Bezzecchi and five seconds adrift of his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, who rounded out the podium in third.
While that represented a sizeable deficit to the front, Marquez is aware rebuilding his form is a gradual process: “I’d give the weekend a ten. Obviously, I don’t like finishing so far behind the winner. But it’s impossible to win without first making it to the podium.
“I still feel I’m far from where I want to be, but we have to see if I can reach that level. If I’m here, it’s to try to extend my career in the championship.”
The Spaniard underwent two separate operations in the wake of his crash in the sprint race at Le Mans earlier this month. The first was a relatively minor procedure to fix his broken toe, but the other one concerned a screw on his shoulder that was intermittently touching a nerve.
Although declared fit to take part in the Italian GP, Marquez was still lacking the full strength he needed for a top result.
“The first thing to do is assess how my shoulders are reacting,” he said. “Today, I ended up with more irritation than usual in the shoulder capsule, which is normal. The goal of the surgery was to improve the condition of the nerve.”
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