The press conference held at the end of qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona brought together Marc Marquez, fabio quartararo et Danilo Petrucci.
As usual, we report here the raw words of Marc Marquez, without the slightest journalistic interpretation.
Mark, congratulations! This is your first victory in Catalonia since 2014. You used a hard front tire and a soft rear today, you had an interesting start by immediately overtaking Dovizioso then you had contact with Fabio. Can you explain your race to us?
Marc Márquez : " Yes of course. Before the race I was very optimistic that I would be able to find a correct strategy, and that's why I chose a soft rear tire. Because my strongest point was in the first part of the race and so I tried to lead it as quickly as possible. I tried to attack and be consistent. Honestly, during the race, I felt something strange because I only knew that Dovi was eliminated: I didn't know that the others were too. Then I saw that Petrucci was 2nd and on the practice timesheets, Petrucci was not one of the fastest guys. But yes, I told myself that we had to continue to attack even if the gap was already big. I kept pushing because I knew this guy (Fabio Quartararo) and the Yamaha riders would be very fast in the last part of the race. I tried to manage the tire during the last laps and it's good to have these 25 points. It’s a good result for the championship and a good day for our family.”
“It’s a good result for the championship” – @marcmarquez93 🎙️
The reigning champion knows how important today could be! 🥇#CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/lDTsAVWsP4
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) June 16, 2019
When you overtook Dovizioso and then saw the incident behind you, how long did the race seem to you?
“It wasn't easy because, OK I was in front, but I was attacking. I was attacking because, as I said, I knew that the Yamaha riders would be very fast at the end, with more rubber on the track. So I attacked. I only just saw the incident and I was very lucky. I was behind Dovizioso and I told myself that I was going to overtake him on the straight on the slipstream, but I was behind him when braking and I saw that he was braking for a long time, so I said to myself that I released the brakes and dove, just in case. Ultimately it was the right time, but I was very lucky.”
Can you tell us about this beautiful day for your family, after your brother's victory?
“Yes, of course it’s great! It's great because as you know, we live together and we train together and, for example, to compare, I was very happy last year because everything was going well for me, but my brother was a little more “shy” because he struggled more. I then tried to help him, and today we wake up with a smile every morning because everything is going well. You know, motorcycles are our life. We get up in the morning and we immediately think about motorcycles! Yes, I'm happy for him because he's struggled a lot in the past and now it seems like he's the type of person that when she's confident, she's really good. He is now optimistic and knows he can do it. He does a great job and what I tell him is to have fun. If you have fun, it will make everything easier. And of course, for our family, it’s very good.”
Marc, after this victory and the 35 point lead that you have, everyone thinks that the championship is over. Are you now going to change strategy?
" Not yet. But I have 37 points. And you never know with these 2 points… (laughing). Right now everything seems easy, but it's not easy because we're attacking. Today I took some risks and almost lost the front at turn 5. Today I drove well but even so there were drivers pushing me behind. And you never know: The championship is very long and we have only done 7 races. I have to continue like this, but of course we are working very well. The whole Repsol Honda team is working in the same direction and we cannot waste time on other things: We only have to work for our goal which is the title. We know that at certain races, we will have drivers, for example like Fabio, who will be very fast. But the most important thing for us is to be consistent on Saturday and Sunday. We are working in this direction.”
Valentino Rossi compared Turn 10 to a supermarket parking lot. What is your opinion on this shift?
“Regarding turn 10, it’s just a corner. What you need to know is that there is a braking zone. How many turns like that do we have in Austin? How many turns like that do we have in Austria? It's another corner and you have to understand that, but the most important thing is that we changed the route for greater safety. With the other turn, let's call it the natural turn, the wall is very close. In 2015, I saw that I was going out in the gravel and I put the bike down because, otherwise, I would arrive in the wall. So yes, it's a different kind of corner and everyone knows that it can happen like that, there can be an incident during the race, but for me we have a lot of corners with this kind of track on the calendar.
Did you see the incident on television?
" Yes ".
So first of all, what do you think about this, even though you said you were lucky?
“About the incident, if you see the footage, everyone may wonder what Lorenzo was doing. But in my opinion, it's not like that. Lorenzo was on the trajectory and unfortunately for him, he lost the front, and simply Dovi and Viñales were off the trajectory. They were there and the motorcycle hit them. Of course, it's a very difficult corner in MotoGP, and as Danilo says, if you have 2 or 3 MotoGPs in front of you, the aspiration is there, and what happened with Zarco can happen at the end of the straight in Australia, or 4 years ago, Iannone with Jorge. For example, Iannone's action against Jorge was even worse. But this one, I only checked twice, but in my opinion Lorenzo was not out of control. But unfortunately for them, he lost the front, because it's easy to lose the front in that place, especially with a full tank of all those things, and as Dovizioso and Viñales were out of the way, his bike caught them . Then also Valentino.”
What kind of racing were you expecting today?
“Honestly, I expected this kind of race because I knew I was very strong in the first 7 laps, with the new tires and especially when the track was more slippery. Then we had more rubber on the track, everything was equalized by finding the trajectory and following the black line. So, everyone went very quickly and that's why I chose the option of the soft rear tire: attack at the start, create a gap, then see at the end. But yes, I expected Quartararo to be very fast, I expected Valentino to be very fast, and especially Dovizioso who is one of the best guys to manage his tire during the race.
Ranking of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
