The eight-time world champion’s confidence in himself and in the bike is growing, but he knows he must improve in qualifying to stay with Martin and Bagnaia: “Today I didn’t know I was on the podium”
May 26, 2024
Montmelò – Marc Márquez he is satisfied with third place in the Barcelona race. Also considering the Sprints, it is the fifth consecutive podium.
After Le Mans another comeback weekend starting from the fifth row: risky and successful starts, overtaking, emotion. Show.
He is third in the world rankings (yesterday he was second), he is competing for the place in red with Martin and for the first time he spoke openly about being in the fight for the world championship, even if he defined himself as the third wheel.
About the race…
“I didn’t know that I was fighting for the podium on the last lap, I swear, because when there are races like this, I tell the team not to tell me the position, I have to feel what I can do. I didn’t know if I was fighting for fifth , fourth or the podium couldn’t be seen and I didn’t know if there were other riders.”
Still…
“Today we didn’t have a good start, but we knew how to react during the race and we knew how to manage the soft tyre”
Is the Le Mans comeback better or this one?
“This was more difficult. Does it have more merit? Yes, because it is a circuit that I haven’t liked since 2013. I started 14th and I didn’t have a good start, I had to overtake and trust in my potential throughout the race and this made the difference in the end, but it was difficult for me to defend that position with Aleix, he also deserved to get on the podium, it was his last race here”
What did you feel when you saw that you were third?
“Double adrenaline. I crossed the finish line and looked at the tower, to see who had won. And I see: 1, 89, 93. I said to myself: ‘How?’ I said to myself: ‘Double shot of… adrenaline!'”
What needs to be improved…
“Qualifying. It doesn’t happen from one race to the next but we have to try to improve because if we want to fight… These two drivers have something more. And above all in Q2 they are always in front, in the first two rows”
Sabout sharing data with 7 other pilots…
“You also need to keep an eye on them but you can’t obsess over looking at the data, because you can go crazy. Each rider has his own riding style, they are slightly different bikes and you have to understand that. But the characteristics of the bike are the same and this helps you see where you lose to improve”
Is it a three-way World Cup?
“It’s a two-way World Championship, with a third hoping to grab it with their teeth. You have to try to give your best. If you can’t fight for a World Championship it’s not because you didn’t want to, it’s because you didn’t succeed. For now we we are, but we can’t save every weekend like this and Le Mans. There are two riders who have everything at their fingertips, given that they have been riding the same bike for five years and this is especially noticeable on Friday, in the time attack.”
On the choice of soft rubber behind (made only by him, his brother, Miller and Acosta)…
“It’s one of the points that has always been very clear to me in Honda, when one or the other was better. Today I had to take a risk. I felt that both had potential, we will have to analyze carefully to understand which tire would have been better. With the medium I wouldn’t have done a better race, but that 14th place forced me to put on the soft, because if you put the medium at the start you can’t overtake, you’re lost”
Is victory at Mugello possible?
“Montmeló is difficult. I marked Mugello and Assen to try and then from there we’ll see if we can take a small step. It’s coming. Every weekend will be different. In Jerez we were the fastest on the track, then there was a lack of confidence, but it’s very much at the limit. We saw it yesterday with Pecco’s crash, today with Acosta’s, we will always try to give our best on Sunday.”
