MARQUEZ JOKES ABOUT APRILIA MEETING AFTER OGURA’S SPRINT ATTACK

Marc Marquez’s Malaysian Grand Prix Sprint featured a close fight with Ai Ogura—and a joke afterwards about the Trackhouse rider’s newfound aggression.

Footage released in Ducati’s Inside Ducati series showed Marquez discussing the battle with his team after finishing second. “They [Aprilia] had some kind of meeting,” he quipped, suggesting Ogura had been instructed to attack. The pair traded passes during the race, with Marquez’s move back on Ogura at Turn 5 bringing their contest to an end.

Marquez said his own error at the start had helped put Ogura in position to challenge. “I made a mistake at the start,” he explained, recalling that he hit the rev limiter while shifting up. He was unsure whether it happened between second and third or third and fourth, but said he had a wheelie and that the power delivery itself was fine. At the first braking zone, he added, “Ogura was really aggressive.”

The Sprint skirmish followed a difficult moment in qualifying, when Marquez had three slides through Turns 13 and 14. He told crew chief Marco Rigamonti that a gear-selection error had contributed. “I did third gear, change direction, then fourth and then first,” he said.

Later, describing the mistake to Ducati boss Gigi Dall’Igna and other technicians, Marquez said he had exited Turn 14 badly and called the sequence a “disaster”. His usual approach, he explained, was to use third and then second gear; instead, he selected fourth and first, with second in the middle of the corner. “I didn’t know where I was!” he said.

Despite the qualifying scare and the early Sprint mistake, Marquez went on to win Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. It was his first victory at Sepang since 2019 and his third premier-class win at the circuit. The result also left him with a chance to clinch the 2026 MotoGP title at the Qatar Grand Prix.