With a shoulder operation and a 2020 Honda that did not appear to be well behaved during winter testing, Marc Márquez needed to reassure himself during the warm-up day at the Jerez circuit.
Mission accomplished for the reigning world champion, who set the best time in the morning before focusing on race pace in the afternoon, finishing 3rd in the day's combined standings.
Marc Márquez : " I'm happy today. We had a difficult pre-season, technically and physically, but it seems that at the end of the Qatar test we found something. So it was good to be able to confirm it here because Qatar is always a unique situation. In Qatar we could see that we had problems, but we didn't know exactly where they were coming from, and now we know a little more. At the start of the day, I found my motorcycle, the one I had in 2019 but with an evolution. I feel better on the bike, I'm more comfortable. My shoulder also behaved well and I could see that the speed was there. I still felt a little discomfort in my shoulder when I stopped, but nothing when I was on the bike. I was fast in the morning but I wasn't consistent, so in the afternoon we worked on pace, which was the real goal of the afternoon. Honestly, I'm really happy to be back on the bike! Did the Yamaha and Suzuki surprise me? No, I expected that. »
The Honda driver develops: “In Qatar we had aerodynamic problems, positive points, but also negative ones, so we tried the 2019 bike with some evolutions. We still have balance problems, but maybe it's from the engine: we're not sure. »
“At the moment, the bike we are using is an evolution, it is not exactly the same frame, swingarm and engine as the previous one…
Here we have some things to try, but maybe we could also try them in the second race that we are going to do here. More than making progress, we tried to reduce the problems. In fact, to progress you have to go to the limit, but all Honda riders encounter the same problems. It is important to get off to a good start because the season will be short and you will have to make few mistakes. »
Visually, Marc Márquez used his 2019 “Star Wars” aerodynamics at Jerez (1st photo), abandoning the more Ducati-like version used at Losail (2nd photo).
Also note the appearance of a control on the left bracelet which could vary the attitude of the RC213V (Photo Sky Sport)…
Final ranking of the first MotoGP Test session in Jerez:
Final ranking of the second MotoGP Test session in Jerez:
Combined ranking of the MotoGP Test day in Jerez:
See you Friday for the Grand Prix!
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
