If you thought two crashes and a trip to the gravel trap would slow down Marc Marquez, think again. But it turns out, the “King of Cota” wasn’t just fighting the slippery white lines of the Chang International Circuit on Day 1—he was fighting his own stomach.
Despite a morning that would have sent most people back to bed, Marquez clocked a blistering 1:29.391 minutes to finish the day P2, just +0.129s behind his brother, Alex. Speaking at the broadcaster set after the session, the eight-time champ revealed that his Day 1 “nightmare” started long before he hit the track.
Marquez admitted that the 6:00 AM alarm was the first hurdle of the day. A stomach bug left him drained of energy and lacking the razor-sharp focus required to tame a 300hp Ducati.
“Already from the wake-up alarm, I feel super bad about the stomach… I didn’t have the energy enough to be focused and concentrated. We started in the worst way possible with that crash on Turn 12.” — Marc Marquez
The Spaniard blamed the Turn 12 crash on “super slippery” white lines—a sentiment echoed by several other riders on the grid. While he struggled through the morning, a post-lunch “reboot” allowed him to find his rhythm and claw his way back to the top of the leaderboard.
While Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez seem to have their minds made up on the GP24 aero package, Marc is still playing the role of the mad scientist. He spent most of Day 1 testing the 2025 Aero before switching back to the 2024 version late in the afternoon.
“I mean during the day I was riding most of the day with the GP25 aero, the one that I finished, then the last part of the day I came back to the 24 aero, and it’s where I was faster, but it’s true that also it’s where I attack more and yeah let’s see if tomorrow we can understand better and choose the best for our riding style.” — Marc Marquez
Credit Photo : MotoGP
