It wasn’t an easy debut for Marc Marquez, only fourteenth in the combined times at the end of the first day of practice, with a Honda that, as expected, struggles along.
The first bike of the Japanese company is that of Joan Mir, twelfth, followed by a Honda hat-trick formed by Alex Rins, Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, with the first three enclosed in the space of thirty thousandths of a second.
Considering what we saw during the tests, which also took place on the Portuguese track of Portiamo, Marquez is not at all surprised by the difficulties shown by Honda on the first day of testing. Two practice sessions in line with expectations, which did not allow him to enter Q2 directly in the top ten, as he would have hoped.
“It was a standard day. It was not a good day, as the aim would have been to get into QP2 directly, but it’s no surprise to be out of QP2, we are in our position where we were in pre-season. We must continue to work and understand”
“It’s true that everyone is very fast today, because everyone is already at the limit. And that makes everything more complex, but it’s the same for everyone and we’re out of QP2, so tomorrow will be a busy day,” explained the eight-time world champion.
The hope was to be able to classify directly in the top ten, which we didn’t succeed today, but Marquez believes that at least one of the Hondas may have some hope of progressing tomorrow morning: “It will be very, very difficult. But let’s see how grip is in the morning, sometimes you go out and it’s fine. But it will be difficult. I think some Hondas could get to QP2, but we are very close: Rins, Mir and I have very close times and I think one of these three riders will enter QP2″.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
One of the surprises of this first day lies in the fact that the times obtained in the first two free practice sessions are lower than those recorded in the tests of the last few weeks, even on harder compounds. However, this wasn’t enough to improve the position, because the others also managed to lower their best time, making the progress of the winged manufacturer’s riders in vain: “Yes, I’m surprised with the times”.
“When I rode this morning, the grip wasn’t bad and the times were there, even with the medium tyre. I was faster than the tests. But everyone rode faster, so yes, we were faster than the tests, but they are the others were too, so we stayed in the same position,” added the Spaniard.
Times, the classic keyword when battling with the stopwatch. It didn’t go unnoticed that Marquez, Mir and Rins, despite three profoundly different riding styles, also coming from different experiences, finished the combined classification in the space of just 25 thousandths. A signal that many have interpreted as a possible indicator of the bike’s limit, even if the eight-time world champion believes that Portimao is not an indicative track for giving a definitive assessment on this question.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“We will see at other circuits, but Rins and Mir have a completely different style but have the same times. I have a completely different style but we have the same times. They are very good drivers and they ride differently, but the times are very close. We put the medium on and we improved in the same way, we put on the soft and the same happened, so the limit seems to be there, but Portimao is a special track, because you’ve been riding to the limit since the tests. In Argentina it will be different because you have to adapt.”
To try to get into the top ten, Marquez tried to take advantage of the slipstream of his rivals, including Quartararo and Bezzecchi, a tactic he’s been following for some time now, considering it the only alternative to improve his laps. In attempting this, however, the Honda rider was unwillingly the protagonist of a crash, one of those which, however, he had already foreseen in his mind.
“This was a crash in which I already knew I was going to crash!” Marquez explained jokingly.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Because when I got to turn two I braked very late, but I already knew it was the only way. If I had given up, I would have lost Quartararo’s wake and it would have been impossible to improve. I had run wide, I tried to do something different, strange, to stop the bike with the rear, but it didn’t work. If it had worked, I would have done a good time, but it didn’t work”
Finally, Marquez analyzed the package available at the moment, a bike that has remained almost unchanged compared to last year’s Valencia tests except for some elements, such as the frame. This meant that the weak points remained essentially the same as last season: “It’s basically the same bike I rode in Valencia, only with a different frame, but the characteristics and behavior of the bike are very similar to last year” .
“And that’s why we lose in the same spots as last season. By standing behind someone, maybe you can earn something, but there are also risks. I tried to follow Quartararo and Bezzecchi to try and improve, but it’s not the best way to ride, even if it’s the only alternative we have at the moment.”
Read also:
