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The stands of Mugello whistled when the screens focused on Marc Márquez, who on Saturday returned to calm the spirits of Pecco Bagnaia, local idol and defender of the crown. The Italian from Ducati knew how to cool the nerves despite the mind games of the eight-time world champion and took a stratospheric pole position that underlines once again his tremendous potential when he focuses on squeezing his mount. With a 1:44.8 he broke the circuit record and raised his fist in anger. He did it twice, also in a sprint race delicate by the sparkling rain. Despite everything, he dominated at will, extended the lead in the MotoGP World Championship and led the Ducati repoker in the home grand prix ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, his main pursuer in the table. "How beautiful Mugello is!" he shouted with joy. The audience, dedicated, vibrated with the dominance of the locals, singing at the top of their lungs the anthem of Italy. "I've gotten goosebumps."
He knew, however, that the prominence of the day would be taken by his pique with the Honda driver. "When you reach 360 km/h to a corner and a driver is close to your line, it bothers you," said the number one. According to his account, the Catalan crossed him on purpose when he was leaving the garage. He didn't want to say anything more to DAZN's microphones despite the fireworks. Bagnaia's anger with the elder Marquez was notorious. He aborted his thrown turn and raised his hand angrily. He put his finger to his forehead, as if calling him crazy. Both then shared a couple of curves in parallel, with Cervera looking at the referent of the contest and doing not with his finger. Never has a discussion at hundreds of miles per hour, with the deafening noise of the engines in between, been so clear.
👀 @marcmarquez93 pulls out of the pits and right into the eye-line of @PeccoBagnaia!
He's really not happy about that! 😮 🇮🇹 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/j4SOA2OI8f
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 10, 2023
"The Pecco thing was a coincidence. I was looking for Bezzecchi and I didn't even know where he was," explained the 93 after the timed. When asked about his opponent's reaction, he couldn't hide that born competitor smile. "I haven't understood his anger. My intention was to move away so that he could pass and make his return. He has decided to get angry, but if he had thrown he would not have followed it. His anger has hooked me," he added. Thus, with another excellent wheel to follow, Márquez managed to sneak into the front row and stayed at only 78 thousandths with a Honda not even as competitive – Alex Rins was ninth at almost eight tenths, and then ended up in the hospital with a fracture of the tibia and fibula of the right leg after a hard fall. It is neither the first nor the last time Marc uses the tactic, one of his most resorted aces in the sleeve since he was seriously injured in 2020 and has not been the same again.
Second on the grid, he was no match for the current world champion, and neither did his brother Álex, the first time that both shared a front row in their illustrious careers. The family milestone only occurred on Saturday, as the little Marquez Alentà drags a three-position penalty for Sunday's race (DAZN and La 1, 14:00h) for an action to the limit in the previous French GP. "I'm happy to see Marc here, in the end he's my brother and I'm happy for him," said the Ducati rider. The comment will not be liked in Borgo Panigale, where they already pulled his ears for his fight face to face with the prop of the factory in the GP of Argentina, which ended with Bagnaia on the floor.
Alex had his dose of prominence going through the repechage of Q1 like a hurricane, and taking out of the sleeve a prodigious last lap alone that sends a warning again. A tenth and a half of his theoretical leader, although in Bologna they emphasize that they do not give team orders, the little Marquez has gone in a matter of months from the last positions of the grid to be a regular in the first. The difference is only one: he has changed the indomitable Honda for the coveted Ducati, a bike so fine and fast that it has allowed him to recover all the confidence lost in his journey with the Japanese.
The misfortune, however, was baited by the brothers' party at Saturday's race. Alex went to the ground pushed by Brad Binder in the first corner of the 'sprint', sanctioned for the maneuver with a long lap. Later, the other KTM, that of Jack Miller, brushed and got off the line slightly to Marc, who lost four positions at once and ended up settling for a seventh place of maximum for Honda: "These things happen in the races, I also expected to fall positions". Ducati, in the midst of the commotion generated, continued with a devastating streak in the contest. He has placed at least one bike on the front row in 46 consecutive grands prix, and took the top five places in the sprint as usual.
Brad Binder smashes the speed record: 366.1 km/h!
Binder, protagonist for the touch with Álex Márquez, was also for running more than anyone else in the history of the contest. It was precisely the slipstreams of the main group, where he fell after serving the long lap penalty, that propelled the South African to the tremendous record. 366.1 km/h recorded on the main straight of Mugello with his KTM, a figure that exceeds by almost 3 km / h the previous mark of Jorge Martín with the Ducati in 2022. The Spaniard finished with a creditable third in the sprint and remains on target in the fight for the title in this initial stretch of the course.
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