Marc Marquez: My DNA is to attack, podium 'next step'?

That’s despite the Repsol Honda star mounting a thrilling recovery from last into turn one at COTA, following a technical issue, to sixth place and just 6.6s from winner Enea Bastianini.

“Austin was a good weekend. The target was to rebuild the confidence and we did it,” Marquez said on Thursday. “We did a solid weekend so this was the most important.

“It’s true that always I want more and to finish sixth was good, the comeback was very good, but we were looking for something more. But anyway, we had a technical issue at the start.

“Sorry I cannot say what happened on the bike. I don’t know if Honda will say but I cannot. These things can happen with a new bike and the most important is that Honda found the problem and resolved it for the future.

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“After the race. I said ‘guys, in ten years we didn’t have a problem on the bike so sometimes it can happen’. Sometimes I’ve made mistakes, sometimes I crash four times in a weekend like in Indonesia, and the mechanics never say anything to me and always have happy faces. This is a team and we are working in the same way in the good and bad moments.”

Marquez plans to approach the Portimao weekend in the same way as COTA, without expectations, but admitted if he feels good on the bike he’ll be on the ‘attack’.

“I will have the same approach here in Portimao but if I feel good my DNA is push, is attack. This is what I did in Austin and what I will do here if I feel good.

“I feel ready but it’s true that this season my best position is top five, so I cannot think from top five to win a race. There are steps in between. Now I need to do that next step, to finish on the podium maybe, or another top five. I don’t know.

“But with this unpredictable MotoGP you cannot approach a weekend with a clear target, you need to understand during the weekend where you are.”

In terms of his physical condition, depleted after a winter spent resting his eye injury and then further downtime when the diplopia returned in Mandalika, Marquez doesn’t expect to have to save energy as much as in Austin, especially with wet weather forecast for Friday.

“In Austin I controlled myself a lot to survive about the physical condition, and this helped me a lot for Sunday’s race. Here I’m in better shape and the weather will also be a small help, because in the rain you don’t force the bike a lot.

“Inside our box we don’t have a lot of references here because I competed only one time and it was half and half conditions,” added Marquez, who made his comeback from a lengthy right arm injury with seventh place at Portimao one year ago.

“But in the last Grand Prix here Alex and Pol were quite fast so we need to understand also with this new bike if we can continue the same way as Austin. It’s time to reconfirm here in Portimao.

“The best thing is to approach the weekend without expectation. Just try to understand, feel the bike and after warm-up we will understand where we are.”

‘Oliveira told me Portimao all about the flow’

The 15-turn 4.6km circuit is characterised by constant elevation changes, making it thrilling to ride but harder than usual to learn. Marquez revealed he got some useful advice from local star and 2020 winner Miguel Oliveira one year ago.

“I like the layout, the up and downs, bumps, different corners, strange corners. Last year I struggled a bit to understand, also with the banking in some turns,” Marquez said.

“I remember being in the pre-event press conference last year and I talked to Miguel Oliveira - because he was the previous winner - who said you need to flow on this track and it’s true. If you find the flow then everything is easier. But if you fight against the bike, everything becomes more and more difficult here.

“Let’s see. It will be an unstable weekend with the weather so this will be another issue, but for me the most important thing is to understand this new bike and package at a European track, which is smaller, narrower and you need to be more precise.”

Marquez, who took his fifth-place finish in the Qatar season-opener before the Mandalika eye injury, is currently 13th in the world championship, 40-points from Enea Bastianini.