First in every session, and with complete control from the first corner until the last of a hot 11-lap sprint at the MotorLand circuit as a prelude to round 12 of 20 in 2024 on Sunday afternoon, Marquez finally regained P1 status after 1042 days and since ending a career-long premier class association with Honda.
It was also the 31-year-old’s maiden trophy on the Ducati Desmosedici and the year-old GP23 model that aced last season’s championship.
Marquez has been formidable across the resurfaced MotorLand asphalt and a modern and sprawling circuit that first welcomed the series back in 2010.
The 2024 edition is the fifteenth visit by MotoGP to central eastern Spain and Marquez already has five victories at the site. It is also one of five current anticlockwise venues in the world championship and Marquez is especially virulent in left-hand turns.
On Saturday morning he scooped his 94th pole position and, crucially, proved he is the absolute master of low grip or mixed conditions; the overnight thunderstorms in the Aragon region had left a dirty film of dust on the surface making grip hard to judge.
His principal rivals – and either suffered tyre degradation issues or crashed during qualifying and sprint sessions at MotorLand.
Marquez, who celebrated six titles in seven years in MotoGP, has been building up speed after his surprising defection to the Gresini team and non-works rider status in 2024 and although Aragon has provided both the rider, his fans and all followers of MotoGP, with a reminder of the scale of his ability and the rabid thirst for spoils, the Catalan was playing down talk of a peak resurgence.
“I think, unfortunately for me, it’s only here in MotorLand,” he said when asked if his dominance on Friday and Saturday was evidence of a sluice breaking through the gates. “With the front [tyre] I feel super-good this weekend.
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