Marc Márquez considers the victory in Misano “even more important” than in Aragón, as it confirms that he is now capable of fighting the Ducati leaders. The improvements are not found on the side of his bike but in his greater confidence on the wheel.

After a very encouraging debut on Ducati, which even prompted the brand to promote him to its official team at the expense of Jorge Martín and Enea Bastianini, Marc Márquez seems to have marked the time. The Spaniard has been a bit off-track since the start of the European season, partly due to the GP23 being increasingly dominated by the newer Desmosedici, but the situation has changed in the last few races.

At the Red Bull Ring, Márquez regained his composure and questions about his ability to win arose once again, however, the special carcass brought to this race could turn the situation in his favor. Márquez did even better at the Aragón GP, ​​however, dominating the weekend in favorable conditions once again, between a track with long left-hand turns where he excelled, and a precarious grip where he knew better than his rivals. The Spaniard then did it again at the San Marino GP, this time taking advantage of a downpour to take the lead.

If the win in Aragón, after a three-year drought, was the most “emotional” victory, then the Misano victory was even more illustrative of his return to the top. “For me, this one is even more important, not because it was the last, but because it came in normal conditions, on a normal track, with normal grip,” stressed Márquez, who certainly benefited from the rain but was in the fight in every session. “I was quick all weekend, in the top 3 or 4 all the time. This is the most important thing for the next races.”

How can we explain Marc Márquez’s leap since the summer break? In any case, there have been no specific changes to his bike, Ducati has committed to providing the same treatment to the Gresini and VR46 riders. Márquez assured after his victory in Misano: “I have as much support as I did with the other GP23s, exactly the same. The #93 largely attributes his progress to the harmony he has found on his bike. While he was adapting to a very different machine to the Honda at the beginning of the year, he has recently started to play on bigger setups.

“It seemed like we were really in contact in the first part of the championship, because we were struggling. We must not forget that this is my first year on this bike, my first year with the technicians, my first year in the team, sometimes it takes time to find the direction.”

“We kept going in that direction, with the basic settings, then we adjusted a little bit with our riding style and I started to feel better and better, especially at Silverstone, where I struggled a lot. We decided to make a big change.”, to look for a different direction and I felt better and better. I would struggle on certain circuits but with these basic settings I got closer [to the GP24 driver].”

Márquez is therefore looking to get better on the Ducati: “Mentally, I started to feel stronger and stronger. Aragón, the Red Bull Ring and this race [at Misano] gave me confidence. Aragón has always been a good track for me but [at Misano] I was leading, I opened up a space… Sometimes you forget those feelings and I was able to find them again.”

“For example, when we were in Austin, when we turned left, I didn’t have that confidence yet,” he clarified, confident that he was getting closer to the feelings he had in previous seasons: “Now, I ride like on a Honda, that’s my style. I lost time when I turned right – I started to lose less, getting closer to Pecco [Bagnaia], who is the fastest at this level. We can continue like this.