Marc Marquez blamed a mysterious technical problem for his startline issues in the Grand Prix of the Americas, and said an alarm was still showing on his Honda throughout his remarkable – and confidence-boosting – ride from last to sixth.
After qualifying only ninth, Marquez was left stranded on the grid as the lights went out.
It originally sounded like he had activated the pitlane speed limiter, which restricts top speed to only 60km/h.
He was adamant that the problem was something else but nonetheless, it effectively conspired to wreck his race before it even got underway.
Marquez was eventually able to get going and put on an incredible display to come though the field to sixth.
The issue most likely denied him a chance to win given his race pace, but perhaps did valuable work in helping him rebuild his confidence after a bruising few weeks.
“We had a technical problem that Honda are investigating,” he explained after the race, “but they know more or less already.
“Since I arrived on the start I saw some alarms and I tried to start and not lose a lot, but the bike was crazy.
“I thought that something big was there. From the start to the first corner I wasn’t pushing the bike. It was like the pit limiter, and I even checked that.
“The alarm stayed all the race, but lucky for us, when I disengaged the holeshot device in the first corner of the bike more or less worked in a good way. Not perfect, because there was something there still wrong, but it worked in a good way.”
That left him with a lot of work to do, charging through the pack at the track identified by the MotoGP grid as the single most physically demanding of the season and then getting locked into a tough battle with reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo.
The Quartararo fought occupied Marquez to the end and ultimately exhausted him and left him unable to challenge Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia, who finished the race less than a second ahead of him.
But even though sixth at a track where he’s won on seven of his nine MotoGP appearances might seem disappointing, he had a lot to be pleased about.
“From that point another race started: a sprint race for me,” he said of when he realized he had an issue.
“I said to myself I knew will give everything, and I that riding 100% all the laps it would be impossible to finish in a good way [physically] but I gave everything.
“When there were five or six laps remaining my body said ‘enough’ and then I just tried to finish the race, to ride in a good pace.
“OK, the result is not the one that we expected, but when you check how we started, how the first corner was, and how we finished, we can say we built and we got a lot of confidence this weekend.”
And after the challenges of the past few weeks, some confidence was much needed for Marquez.
Badly rattled by the huge warm-up high-side three weeks ago at Indonesia’s Mandalika Bay circuit that left him with concussion and a return of his double vision issues, he says that the goal for the weekend in Texas was never necessarily to fight for the race win.
“My target all weekend was to build confidence,” he said, “to try and not crash all weekend, because you know – the doctors said that everything was fixed but I’m scared about my health.
“It was a recent impact, three weeks ago, so I rode in a good way and that was the most important thing.
“The feeling now is satisfaction. To be here already this weekend was satisfaction, and to finish the race in sixth position was also satisfaction, if we check how we started.
“It’s true that it looks like when you’re in your worst moment, everything arrives.
“We’ve never had a technical problem during nearly all the years, and today when I needed the help it’s when we had one.
“This is something that happens, and I’ll keep going and keep pushing.”