Alex Marquez (5th) on Aprilia’s advantage: “Closer, but not close enough”

Finishing fifth in the MotoGP sprint at Mandalika, Alex Marquez played it safe. Despite his brother Marc’s victory, the Ducati rider still sees Aprilia as having the advantage.

Sebastian Fränzschky

MotoGP

10.10.2026 - 14:34

This article is an automatically generated English version. The Original Article was published in German.

Alex Marquez stellte ein solides Ergebnis sicher
© Gold & Goose

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Alex Márquez

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The MotoGP Sprint at Mandalika saw Alex Márquez finish fifth and realise that a cautious approach can pay off. Starting from eighth on the grid, the Gresini Ducati rider benefited from his rivals’ mishaps, but also demonstrated a solid pace of his own. Following the numerous crashes in qualifying, his main priority was to avoid making any mistakes.

“Fortunately, it was a fairly straightforward Saturday. Qualifying wasn’t particularly good, but at least I didn’t crash. After what felt like ten crashes in Q1, I told myself: you need to stay a bit calmer and be more patient. That’s exactly what I did.”

Alex Márquez overtook three rivals without a fight

In the sprint, two strong Aprilia riders – Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi – were forced out of the race as early as the first corner. Later, Pedro Acosta had to serve a long-lap penalty for multiple breaches of the track limits. Marquez capitalised on the opportunities and crossed the line 3.4 seconds behind his winning brother.

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Aprilia-Schlamassel in Kurve 1: Bezzecchi und Fernandez am Boden
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“Starting from 8th on the grid wasn’t easy. But I also had a bit of luck with the problems the others had in Turn 1 and then with Acosta’s long-lap penalty. In the end, I finished 5th, maintaining a good pace. That’s a positive. I took it easy and tried not to make any mistakes – especially any big ones – to avoid any trouble.”

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At the front, Marc Márquez came out on top after Jorge Martín had been forced to relinquish the lead due to low front tyre pressure. When asked about his brother’s success at a circuit that had previously proved difficult for him, Alex initially insisted on making a distinction.

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“It’s not a Grand Prix podium, but a sprint podium. That’s something different. So far, he hasn’t secured a podium finish in the Grand Prix at Mandalika, but he has a sprint victory.” Nevertheless, he expressly praised his brother’s performance: “I’m delighted for him. Although he wasn’t the fastest on the track, he handled the situation as well as he possibly could. He’s Marc Márquez, after all, and he can do things like that.”

Alex Marquez therefore does not see the Ducati victory as proof that the gap to Aprilia has closed. He still sees disadvantages, particularly in two sections of the circuit.

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