Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez labeled his pole position and Sprint success at the 2025 MotoGP season opener in Thailand as the “perfect Saturday.”
The six-time MotoGP champion dominated the day’s events, securing pole position and sealing the Sprint race win which he led from start to finish.
The Spaniard completed a dream debut with the Bologna-based manufacturer, while his teammate Francesco Bagnaia could only manage third place, finishing 3.423s adrift.
Marquez’s nearest challenger was his younger brother Alex Marquez who crossed the line 1.185s behind after the 13-lapper reached its conclusion.
The 32-year-old sensed expectations on him to produce a strong performance on his debut with the factory Ducati.
“Yeah, of course, today was an important day because expectations were high,” he said to Crash.net.
“And I tried to use the experience and don’t feel those expectations.
“But in the end, something arrived. We did a perfect Saturday, a solid Saturday, pole position, sprint race victory.
“Plus, my brother finished second. So, I’m even happier.
“But it’s the first Saturday of the year, it’s only a Saturday. Sport can change one day from the other. So, I’m happy but not super happy because I know tomorrow is the important day.”
Marc Marquez pinpoints section of track he needs to ‘take little bit more risk’ in
Marquez explained that he has more to give heading into Sunday’s main event, identifying a section of the track where he feels he needs to “take a little bit more risk.”
“Find the same feeling,” Marquez replied when asked what he needs for Sunday.
“I want to find the same feeling. It’s true I need to improve a bit that sector three.
“It depends, because sometimes if you push at 100% you do mistakes.
“It’s maybe where I can find… I know where I lose the tenth, but I need to take a little bit more risk.
“I did some laps in the practice about the T3. About the rest, fine. The same feeling will be… maybe tomorrow someone will go out and be faster, like we saw today with [Ai] Ogura.
“You never know in MotoGP. But if it’s like this we will understand and it’s important to finish the race.”
Marc Marquez: Riding ‘comfortably’ was the most ‘important’ objective
The Spaniard shared insights into the lessons he learned in his time in the premier-class.
He expressed that he felt at ease with the Panigale beneath him but stated there was no need to go over the limit.
“What I understood from all these years being here in MotoGP, it doesn’t matter if you win by one second or three seconds,” he said.
“It depends, because sometimes if you push at 100% you do mistakes. But I tried to manage the distance between me and the second rider.
“So, today I tried to manage that gap, try to understand what we need tomorrow for the race.
“In two, three brake points I had some margin but maybe if I used that margin maybe you never know. But today I ride comfortably, so this is the most important thing.”
READ MORE – Marc Marquez establishes dominant Thai MotoGP Sprint victory
