Marc Marquez explains “big misunderstanding” at start of Mugello MotoGP sprint

Marc Marquez says he had a “big misunderstanding” on his way to the grid with his Ducati’s launch control that led to his “difficult” start in the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix sprint.

The 32-year-old qualified on pole for 100th time in his career on Saturday morning at Mugello and had the pace to run away with the sprint later in the afternoon.

But the race almost ended at the start for Marc Marquez, as a poor start dropped him to the fringes of the top 10 on the run to Turn 1 before he quickly rallied to get into the lead on the fourth tour.

Marquez initially throttled on as the lights came on for the start, before reaching over to his left handlebar with his right hand to adjust something and then set off.

He has since explained that the problem stemmed from his launch control disengaging, which he didn’t realise until he started to rev his engine as the lights came on ahead of the start.

“Yeah, I had a big misunderstanding at the start with the launch control,” he told motogp.com.

“First of all I thought it was in, but I didn’t read the message on the screen well and it was out again.

“And then in the last moment when I opened the gas again when the lights were on, I saw the launch control was out and then I think with the right hand I pressed the button to put it on again.

“Difficult, but lucky for us… it was a big mistake, honestly speaking, but luckily for us those three corners I was in the correct moment, in the correct line to already be behind Pecco and Alex.”

Marquez went on to win the sprint by 1.4s to extend his championship lead to 35 points ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.

He came into the weekend looking to be close on pace to Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, and still believes those two will make the grand prix harder for him.

“Normally in this circuit when I’m behind somebody, historically I feel better,” he added.

“And today when I was behind them I felt good, I felt even a bit better than alone. But this morning I alone I had a very good pace.

“So, I just tried to read the race and manage my limits. It’s what I did in the sprint race.

“Tomorrow in the long race it will be a bit more difficult, especially because Alex is super constant and Pecco normally on Sundays does a big step.

“I mean, first of all we need to understand the rear tyre [choice] because the soft has potential but with the long race in that extreme temperature it will be critical because it’s more than 45, 50 degrees on the ground.

“So, first of all is try not to repeat the mistake at the start and then manage the race.

“But in this race track, this GP, our goal was to try to defend, not lose a lot of points. At the moment we’ve gained, so this is a good sign.”