Written by Isha Reshmi Mohan, Edited by Rohan Brown
Following Friday's practice sessions we saw that the former Gresini duo (despite now being on separate teams) will continue their rivalry.
In the first session, Marc Márquez topped the timesheets with a 1.29.423, and was expected to do the same in the afternoon.
However, Gresini’s Álex Márquez swooped in to take his brother’s top spot, finishing just 0.050 seconds ahead - both securing a Q2 spot for Saturday.
“It will be a nice problem to have”
Although Alex believes that “the first Friday of the season is always stressful”, he maintained his composure, which boded well for the Practice session and also the final free practice early on Saturday ahead of the Qualifying rounds.
With the well-known jokes of the older brother, Marc playfully showed his brother the middle finger while passing, Álex was asked if he received the gesture after topping the timesheets in the practice session. He responded, “No, it’s getting serious now.”
It was further discussed that if Álex were to beat his brother on Saturday or in the race itself, Marc would definitely not stop with just one but it would definitely be a nice problem to have.
“Not the last time”
When the topic was taken to Marc, he took a more supportive approach for his brother.
“If somebody beats me okay you’re never happy, but if it’s your brother it’s okay”, Marc said.
He further explained his brother’s achievements, and expects him to fight for more podiums and even some victories.
Marc also noted that he doesn’t expect a significant change in performance or results in Thailand, given the number of laps already completed, including testing sessions.
The real challenge, he said, comes from seeing the riders under pressure in a time attack situation and expects a front or maximum second row for Qualifying.
For the final practice session on Saturday, Marc finished second behind Morbidelli, while Alex secured fifth place, with a 0.369-second gap between the brothers.
The siblings also battled for the top spot in qualifying, however Marc edged out Alex, finishing 0.146 seconds ahead.
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