Marquez now “has the speed” on Ducati MotoGP bike after maiden podium

The eight-time world champion brushed off a crash in qualifying which left him eighth on the grid to battle his way to second in Saturday’s 12-lap sprint at the Algarve International Circuit.

Snatching the position away from Pramac’s Jorge Martin on the last lap, it marked Marquez’s first podium on the Ducati in just his second weekend on the bike.

“I did a big mistake on that qualifying practice, which led me to start on that third row, and it was easy to be on that second row,” said Marquez.

“Starting on that third row penalises a lot. But today we were able to be fast, we have the speed and this is the most important thing from the weekend, that we have more speed than in Qatar.

“This is helping me to overtake and be more constant.”

He added: “The most important thing this weekend is that I have speed, regardless of what happens tomorrow. I can overtake and that's another story.”

Marquez’s qualifying crash came at the start of Q2 and resulted in a fast trip through the gravel at the downhill Turn 15.

The Spaniard explained that the crash happened because he engaged his rear ride height device too early, which led to his Ducati bottoming out on its forks and sending him down.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Basically, normally you need to engage when you roll [off] the gas and it was a big mistake because I engaged it still when I was on gas,” he said.

“That was the mistake. But with all the bikes, this will happen.

“If you are on the gas and you touch the button, it will engage the rear device.

“The thing is that of course it’s in a different position… I cannot explain.

“My mechanics say ‘why you push [the button]?’. I say ‘I push’, and I didn’t expect that I pushed but I pushed too early.

“And on the images it’s easy to see [what happened]. It was a big mistake just to learn for the future.”