A year ago he climbed to the top step of the podium for the first time at the second race of the year (in Argentina) and today, at the end of the second event in 2024, Marco Bezzecchi is still without a podium. The new season hasn't started in the best way for the Pertamina VR46 team rider and adapting to the Desmosedici GP23 is proving to be more tiring than expected.
In Portimao, where last year he took third place in the race, he did no better than sixth (best result of the weekend, considering the 11th position of the Sprint). A difficult start on Saturday and complicated first laps on Sunday seasoned a weekend where he was never fully able to fight for the top positions: “A difficult race, not at the top, but we knew it”, is the comment of Bez at the end of the weekend.
The driver from Viserba explains the difficulties of the weekend, starting from the start, his Achilles' heel since the lower classes, up to the tire pressure: “Unfortunately I ended up a little behind on Sunday too. But not because of the start like in the Sprint, more because of the first corners. I wasn't able to position myself where I wanted and a few riders passed me. It was hard to get back up because my tire pressure went up a bit.”
Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team
Foto di: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The GP23 is proving difficult to understand for Bezzecchi, who however already knows where to work in order to take a step forward: “Overall I still struggle when I have grip, when the tire hasn't dropped yet, I can't turn the motorbike. This was evident because as soon as I managed to pass Oliveira to put myself at the head of the group, I lapped in 39″2 because the grip had dropped. We have to try to work to improve the first laps and especially the first half of the race, because I lost a lot. But there has been something positive, so we must try to continue in this direction.”
It is not the explosive Bezzecchi of the beginning of last year that we see in the first two events of 2024. However, the VR46 standard bearer is ready for the next races, in which he aims to reverse the trend. MotoGP will fly to the United States in three weeks: “Austin is a very different track from all the others, it will be interesting to see how I feel on the bike at the start. I hope to have good sensations. But it's hard to say. Last year I didn't do too badly, so let's see. We will try to do the best.”
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