Consistency continues for Marquez as Mir vows to bounce back
Marc Marquez earned another safe top-ten finish after a spirited start to the San Marino Sprint, Joan Mir unfortunately suffering through a complicated race.
The Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini produced another solid Saturday of action where less than a second regularly split the majority of the MotoGP grid. Having already earned his spot in Q2 on Friday, Marquez moved directly to the second 15-minute qualifying session and continued to pressure the top ten. A best time of 1’31.223 earned him ninth on the grid for both race starts and confirmed him as the leading Honda.
When the 13-lap Sprint got underway, the #93 charged forward and immediately made himself known in the battle for the point-scoring positions. As with previous rounds, he would eventually switch to a more defensive mode and bring his Honda RC213V home in 10th place. Although it didn’t earn points, Marquez gathered more good data for HRC engineers.
Joan Mir had a more complicated day on the second Repsol Honda Team RC213V machine as near contact with Franco Morbidelli at the start of the race meant he was unable to make early gains. Working to recover, Mir was able to overtake several of the riders ahead before being hit with multiple Long Lap Penalties which ended his hopes of fighting with the other Honda riders.
Both Marquez and Mir will have another chance to improve and show their improvements when the lights go out on the San Marino GP at 14:00 Local Time on Sunday, September 10.
Marc Marquez
“I felt good on the bike, I am feeling more competitive and like I am riding the bike well. Unfortunately, the results aren’t coming yet and we finished tenth, but I feel I’m riding well and I hope we can do it again tomorrow. Again, I was able to be stronger at the start of the race and in the second half I focused on defending. When I checked the pace with my team last night, it looked like we would be between eighth and 12th and finally we finished tenth – so it looks like we were correct. Tomorrow, we start ninth which is important, but the long race will be very demanding. It’s something we are working on.”
Joan Mir
“After this morning we decided to go one direction for the race and at the start I almost made contact with Morbidelli which meant I lost a big opportunity to recover more positions in the first corners. From then I recovered a few positions, and I enjoyed the race more, the feeling on the front was better and I was able to ride the bike how it wanted. I got as high as passing Stefan but then I got the Long Lap Penalties for touching the green at the end of the last corner. The message appears in Sector 1 where you can’t really look at the dashboard in MotoGP, so I saw just seeing an orange light. I then did the long laps, but it was very complicated. I know tomorrow can be better.”
San Marino GP - Sprint Race
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | 12 | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 19'58.785 |
| 2 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | 9 | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 1.445 |
| 3 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | 7 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 4.582 |
| 4 | Pedrosa Dani | 26 | SPA | 6 | KTM Test Team | KTM | 4.772 |
| 5 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | 5 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 4.931 |
| 6 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | 4 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 6.062 |
| 7 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | 3 | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 6.519 |
| 8 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | 2 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 7.893 |
| 9 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | 1 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 9.264 |
| 10 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 11.318 |
| 11 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | 0 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 13.365 |
| 12 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | 0 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 13.788 |
| 13 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 14.243 |
| 14 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | 0 | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 14.154 |
| 15 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | 0 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 17.421 |
| 16 | Espargaro Pol | 44 | SPA | 0 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM | 17.451 |
| 17 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | 0 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 18.133 |
| 18 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 19.749 |
| 19 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | 0 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM | 20.403 |
| 20 | Pirro Michele | 51 | ITA | 0 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 21.454 |
| 21 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | 0 | LCR Honda | Honda | 21.962 |
| 22 | Bradl Stefan | 6 | GER | 0 | HRC Test Team | Honda | 23.672 |
| 23 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 36.100 |
Location Information
Close to the city of Rimini, the Misano Adriático circuit was constructed in 1972 and has since undergone an array of modifications. A regular scene for Italian Grands Prix throughout the 80s and early 90s, Misano returned to the MotoGP calendar in 2007.With updated facilities, track and grandstands, the Misano… read more.
| Length | 4.226 kilometres / 2.626 miles |
| Width | 14 metres |
| Left corners | 6 |
| Right corners | 10 |
| Longest straight | 0.565 kilometres / 0.351 miles |
| Constructed | 1969 |
| Modified | 2008 |
Misano World Circuit "Marco Simoncelli", Via Daijiro Kato, Misano Adriatico, Rimini, Italy - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m30.390s (168.3 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Lap | 1m31.791s (165.7km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Time | 41m33.421s (164.7 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2023) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
