If many left a tough Sepang track for three intense days with high morale, Marc Márquez will be able to assess the full extent of his resilience. The eight-time World Champion arrived in Malaysia diminished with a right shoulder still far behind to discover a Honda rated by Crutchlow as worse than last year. In three days, he fell twice and he admits that the last one was due to fatigue... His painful body forced him to prematurely end his performance symbolized by a twelfth place. All this in the face of increasing competition...
This start of the year is a fight for Marc Márquez who is not at the top of his form. Neither does his motorcycle, which must face a new difficulty: its adaptation to new Michelin rear tire. At Honda, we recognize swimming in full uncertainty now less than a month before the opening of the season at Qatar.
On this situation which we would almost already qualify as a crisis, the HRC official comments: “ Last year I came second at Losail with my injured left shoulder. But at the moment I cannot estimate how much my condition will improve in the coming weeks. ". The older brother of a álex MotoGP beginner who will be his teammate in 2020 finished behind the KTM rider, Miguel Oliveira and lost 0,423 seconds to the undefeated leader on his Yamaha for three days fabio quartararo.
« In fact, I finished this Sunday with a good feeling, even if I had a minor accident at turn 15. I put more pressure on the bike. In fact I was at the end of my physical strength by noon… But I still went out in the afternoon. This fall was mainly due to my physical condition. Normally I would have caught the bike in the middle of the curve with my left elbow. But I didn't have enough strength anymore. It's good if you reach the limit... But it would have been better to avoid the fall »
« I was able to do 47 laps again today. I was riding at a different pace which wasn't bad. I did runs for six laps almost all the time, a little longer than the first few days. I started to feel better. But we still have to improve because everyone else has all improved. »
Cal Crutchlow complains about the bad feeling on the front of the new bike. Marc shares this opinion. “ But I haven't been able to make a really specific comment yet. Because I can't drive the way I want. I do a lot with my left arm because on the right the deltoid muscle was only able to provide 60% of its performance. I thought it would be okay, but I was wrong. As I am diminished, there is an increased risk of slipping on the front wheel. I can only hope that I will be in better shape with the Qatar test starting February 22. » A hope shared by the entire Honda factory…
Final standings of the third day of the MotoGP test at Sepang:
Past references:
– Best test lap: 1’58.239 (Danilo Petrucci 2019)
– Pole position 2019: 1'58.303 (Fabio Quartararo)
– Best lap in the race: 1'59.661 (Valentino Rossi 2019)
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
