Misano – Marc Marquez, as always, isolates himself in the press conference when the questions do not concern him. His eyes are fixed on a distant point that is not outside, he is looking at his thoughts, his goals. He is very far, in some way, from the physical place where he is.
He always does. But when they ask him about his golden weekend, the one in Aragon where Dall’Igna said that 93 was “amazing” he is very lucid in his answers.
Before Aragon, MM’s last victory had been Misano, in 2021. These are his words on the eve of the first of the two GPs scheduled in Romagna.
You achieved your goal of your first victory in Ducati, what is the next one for 2024?
“I definitely achieved my minimum goal for this season, now it’s time to work. Now we can be a little more confident and use this extra motivation to continue working with the team and get to know the bike better. It’s true that I would like to find the same sensations here that I had before in Aragon. In Aragon we found some special conditions. But here our rivals are fast, we will try to stay close to them”
Where did you find the feeling of being able to win again? In Valencia in the 2023 tests?
“Yes, at that moment I realized that my decision was right, I had to continue working, even inside myself. At that point I realized that I would get a victory, it took 20 races. Now we have to work on consistency”
I’m sure you’ve watched the race several times, you weren’t in the picture much because you were in front. Was there anything about yourself that surprised you?
“When you are the fastest on the track it seems like you are intelligent, that you control everything, but everything is still relative to speed, I felt good, I was smooth, especially in the race I was extremely focused. I arrive here remembering more the sensations of the Red Bull Ring than Aragon, which was particular, I hope to continue in the wake of what happened in Austria, improving the right-hand corners”
Was there a moment when you could free yourself from all the pressure you had in the past years, I imagine you spoke with Santi (Hernandez, his crew chief in HRC, ed.)…
“There hasn’t been time to enjoy that victory yet, there have been no free weekends. I had dinner with the Gresini team and yesterday I went to the Honda box and thanked them and told them to feel part of this victory, I wanted to tell them that they have to feel part of this project”
We all know about your results until 2019, now the victory is back…
“It was hard, until 2019 and in 2020 I was very fast and everything was easy, even without working at home, now I have to work twice as hard, more physiotherapy, more maintenance, but I’m ready to do it, it’s my job, it’s what I’ll continue to do, what I want to do”
Do you think the World Cup could be a 4-way or 2-way affair?
“As a duo, Bagnaia and Martin are more consistent. Enea and I were very fast, he at Silverstone, I at Aragon but these two guys have something more”
