Eight-times World Champion Marc Marquez’s victory in the Aragon MotoGP saw him reduce his championship points deficit to 70, but he still feels he’s too far away to be considered a contender for the title yet.
In addition to his 70-point deficit to Jorge Martin, Marquez is 47 points behind Francesco Bagnaia who remains the most victorious rider in 2024 with seven Grand Prix victories and three Sprint wins.
“No, we are far,” Marquez admitted in the Aragon post-race press conference when asked about his championship credentials. “We start losing points, more and more and more. We are too far.
“And it’s not only one rider, it’s two riders that have more consistency than us.
“One weekend will not change our life. Of course, will help our life, but will not change. We are too far to fight for the championship this year.
“But let’s see if we can fight to be in the top three positions. That’s a realistic goal. Still there are a lot of points, a lot of things to happen, because we know that around there in Asia is storms, raining, and you never know.
“But we keep enjoying, and this is most important for me, and we will try to keep going and fighting with the top guys.”
Emphasising the need for consistency in order to fight for the championship, Marquez pointed out the unusual conditions of the Aragon round.
“This weekend has been super-good, the feeling has been amazing,” he said. “But we need to be realistic and the conditions were super-special. I feel, for me, was more important the Red Bull Ring GP that I felt super-good and I was in a very close level to the top guys.
“Here, the value of the victory is super-high, and now we will try to find the consistency. We need to understand during races, but I know that will arrive some weekends where we will struggle more than the others. This [consistency] will be the second key.”
Marquez also pointed to the example of Enea Bastianini, who after his British Grand Prix double was seen as a major championship threat, but who was only fifth in Aragon after qualifying 14th.
“We will try to repeat in the future, but we can be fast one weekend— Enea [Bastianini] was fast in Silverstone — but one of the things that I want to work on is the consistency, [which] is the most difficult thing to get,” Marquez explained.
Jorge Martin, who after Aragon leads the championship by 23 points, agreed, somewhat, with Marquez.
“Marc is far away,” the championship leader said, “but if he starts winning all the race weekends he can be a title contender.
“But two races ago Enea [Bastianini] was again in the title fight, then was not, now Marc; after Austria and here he is strong, and for sure he’s one of the best riders on the grid and can battle for the championship.”
