The Catalan Marc Márquez He continues to say that he is in the process of adapting to the Ducati. The eight-time world champion, who today has easily led the first training sessions of the Gran Premio de Portugalwhich is celebrated in precious circuit of Portimaoin the Algarve, and, shortly after, in the second session, where everyone improved their times, he finished third in his second weekend with the diabolical ‘Desmosedici’, insists that every day he learns something new about what the Ducati is like, how it behaves, how it works and how it should be ridden. And, yes, he recognizes that he is, that he is still, on the right path.
Yes indeed, MM93 is sending messages to the grill MotoGP: “It’s becoming clearer and clearer what I have to do to go fast on this bike.” If in full learning, if in the first weekend he finishes fourth and, on the first day of the second grand prix, he leads a session and gets on the podium in the second, it is evident that the eldest of the Márquezs is becoming more and more close to the podium, which has already been won as soon as we arrived in Portimao.
Keep learning
“Within the learning in which I am immersed, there are four details that are beginning to be very definitive to gain confidence and security,” Márquez continued explaining after a day where he received an extraordinary grade. “At least, 8 out of 10.” It’s not bad at all. “Yes, because it has been a day of a lot of work, of getting to know each other better as a team, with the engineers, with the technicians, with the mechanics and, above all, getting a small change of direction right that we have made and that has It offered much more confidence with the bike and confidence allows you to push, push for the limit and, yes, fall for the first time this season.”
Marc Márquez (Ducati), today, in his boxing in Portimao (Portugal). / EMILIO PÉREZ DE ROZAS
It said four details. Let’s go for the details. “One, I am good, sorry, when the track conditions are very delicate, that is, strange, strange, especially dangerous and/or slippery. That’s how the track was in the morning and that’s why I ended up leading the classification.”
More, come more. “We have worked, I insist, on a change of setup that has given me more security with respect to Qatar, which means that we know what we need and we interpret everything that happens very well. “More?, I already know which tires I should use with this bike and which ones I should discard, for example, the soft front one is impossible to mount.”
“Today I give myself an 8 out of 10. I’m starting to know what I need to go fast on this bike, that’s very important and gives you more confidence. And, yes, you force yourself and you fall. That’s what you have to do”
The fall, the first fall of the season, is the fourth detail of an extraordinary Friday. “The track is just as hard when you fall with your Honda that when you fall with the Ducati. Luckily, it was just a slip. Braking downhill and, suddenly, the ‘Márquez instinct’ has emerged, which, with the Honda, when it moved under braking, managed to recover the position by skidding as hard as possible, but with the Ducati that doesn’t work. This bike has many other strong points, but certainly not that one.”
The new Marc Marquez 2.0the one who is not in a hurry, the one who does not plan to rush, the one who astutely waits for his moment, which will come, of course, recognized, on his first day in Portugal, having taken, yes, one more step with respect to the Márquez who was seen , which he wore, which shone on the night route of Losail, in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
More and more confidence
And he did it, of course, without criticizing the press, but letting them know that “when you said that, in Losail, I ran conservative, that was not the case, no. It wasn’t a matter of not wanting to risk more than necessary, it was a matter of lack of confidence. Here, with that small change we have made to the bike, I feel much more confident, happier on it and that is why I can push a little harder. And that’s what I’m doing, continuing to take baby steps. And, obviously, there will come a time when the final step will cost a lot, because it will be the step to aspire to the podium. Or win.”
At the moment, today, Friday in Portimao, second weekend of the World Championship, Márquez only has two drivers ahead of him, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and the australiano Jack Miller (KTM). Everyone else, including the champion ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia and the runner-up Jorge Martin, stars of the Borgo Panigale brand, are behind. “But tomorrow (Saturday) they can be ahead, yes. I still don’t feel fast enough to consider myself a regular in the top-5, not to mention!”
He says it and very few believe it after the admiration he provoked after the first training session this Friday. But you have to believe him, he was never one of those who won by talking in the press room, because his ability to intimidate his opponents is always exhibited on the court, always.
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2024-03-22 16:56:59
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