On this Thursday, June 24, 2021, Marc Márquez answered questions from journalists from the Assen circuit, ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
We went to listen (via teleconferencing software) to the words of the Spanish driver, who is presenting this weekend on the strength of his success last week at the Sachsenring. And even if victory seems like a pipe dream for the number 93 in the Netherlands, he will still try to do well there to validate his recent progress aboard the RC213V.
As usual, we report here the words of Marc Márquez without the slightest formatting.
Marc, it's already been four days since you won this emotional victory at the Sachsenring. Have your expectations for the Dutch TT been revised upwards as a result?
" It It is clear that this was one of the most important victories for me, coming at one of the most difficult times of my career. We were really at rock bottom, and that gave me and the team more motivation because it had been a long time since we had any success. »
" I I think that here we will return to our real level of performance, but in any case it was important to get back to winning ways before the summer break. We will have more than a month to continue our program. We will see if we can do better than in Mugello and Montmeló. But it is clear that I cannot expect the same level of performance as at the Sachsenring this weekend. »
With these six weeks of rest looming, what can you hope for in the second half of the season?
" The truce will of course be very important for me. It's strange because in Montmeló I realized that if I took breaks I could ride for a long time, but not if I did it all at once. I am also very sensitive to weather changes and humidity. But it's something normal in my rehabilitation process, at least that's what the doctors told me on the phone. But once again, the most important thing was to have this victory. »
« La truce will be very important for me »
You must be very happy with Austin returns to schedule ?
" The good news of the week is that we will be able to return to Austin, a circuit that I like. It is obvious that the more races there are on the calendar, the better it is for the drivers. »
Would you like Valentino Rossi to ride a Ducati next season?
"With Valentino, anything is possible, because he continues to drive at 42. And if he continues to ride with his own team, it is clear that it will be good for MotoGP. »
It is possible that we will have rain this weekend, would that be a positive thing for you?
" A Slow or struggling pilot always prays for rain. If it starts to rain on Sunday, it will open up the possibilities. But the fact that it's dry or wet isn't going to change my final result in the championship, so we'll see how it goes over the weekend. The most important thing will be to make progress compared to what we were able to do at Mugello or Montmeló, but not compared to the Sachsenring, which is not representative. »
What are the differences between your bike and that of your teammate Pol Espargaró?
" We let's try to find the best basis to work from and start from there. When I came back to competition, for me it was difficult at the beginning because I was riding the bike in a strange way. At Mugello I wanted to race with the same settings as before. All the riders look at how I ride the bike because I do it differently than the others. »
" For As for Pol, he has difficulty being fast and especially being consistent on the Honda. The other Honda riders are also struggling, and I have to say Nakagami may be the one closest to knowing how to operate the bike well. But we are still in a difficult moment, and the Sachsenring was just a blip. We will see if during the second part of the season we can prepare as best as possible for 2022. »
« Nakagami is perhaps the closest to knowing how to operate the Honda well »
This weekend promises to be more difficult for you, but can your victory last week allow you to suffer more knowing that you now have the certainty of being able to win again?
" I I'm ready to suffer what it takes, but if I suffer too much I'm going to crash again as was the case at Mugello or Montmeló, that's the sad reality. At the Sachsenring I was able to drive very smoothly and precisely. I knew this circuit very well and the fact that it turns mainly to the left helped me. I was able to control some of the bike's reactions very well. But here at Assen you can afford to suffer for a few laps, but if it's the whole race then it's easy to make a mistake. »
"The The most important thing for me is to have good motivation. We are certainly convinced that we can win, but later, not immediately. This weekend the idea is to take a new step in relation to Mugello and Montmeló, not in relation to the Sachsenring. This means aiming for the top 10 only. »
« Ce weekend the idea is to aim for the top 10 »
Now that tires and electronics are standardized and there is the presence of the holeshot device, can we say that the driver's part in performance has become minor? Is the human factor less than in the past?
" I I think it's the driver who makes the biggest difference, and I think that's something that must continue in our sport. It is true that now that the electronics are standardized, and that the performances of the official motorcycles and those of the satellite motorcycles are more or less the same, pilots or teams who would never have had the possibility of winning ago ten years can now. The tires have progressed quite a bit too, and when the grip is higher the performance is smoother. When there are fewer you have to manage the throttle, the slippage and that's where you can make the difference. »
In terms of chassis, HRC asked all its drivers before Mugello to work in the same direction using the same parts. So what is your plan for the second half of the season?
" The Last season I didn't drive but that didn't stop HRC from trying new elements. Some riders validated them and therefore kept them on the bike. The performance of the bike wasn't that bad, because if we take Álex [Márquez's] results, we see that he finished on the podium twice. Nakagami was also fast and was often in the top 10 and even took a pole position in Aragón. »
" On the first races I was not able to understand the bike well, but later I felt that there was something strange and we started to analyze it with the whole team, and I It got to a point where I said to myself that I just wanted to go back to something that I knew, that I had used before, which was the 2019 settings. »
" We So I started racing again with this base, and race after race I started to gradually use or try the new things introduced by the other Honda riders. This has been our way of doing things since Le Mans. From then on we progressed race after race and at the Sachsenring I can say that I was really riding a motorcycle in my hand. But all this groundwork was done with a view to 2022, not to specifically improve our results this year. »
« A at a certain point I wanted to return to my 2019 settings »
