Marini: “After four laps the rear tyre was finished, worried about tomorrow"
The polesitter made a great start to the race and led during the early stages before coming under attack from Alex Marquez.
Marini held off Marquez’s challenge on two occasions but had no answer for eventual race winner Jorge Martin.
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Marini lost first place on lap five, before succumbing to the pressure of Fabio Di Giannantonio on the same lap.
Although Marini called it a ‘fantastic Saturday’ after claiming pole with a new circuit record and a podium, the Italian is concerned for the main race.
Speaking to MotoGP.com, Marini said: “Fantastic Saturday. The weekend is not finished so we need to find something for tomorrow because today the race was really difficult for me.
“After four laps I finished the rear tyre. It was really difficult to arrive at the end of this sprint race. I am really worried about tomorrow.
“But we will see and try to understand what happened to find a solution because in practice this never happened.
“Usually the harder rear makes an improvement lap-by-lap but today was the complete opposite.
“Also, the front tyre was a question mark. I felt good with the soft but everyone else is using the hard.”
With tyre wear clearly a problem for the Italian, making sure he finds a breakthrough in order to sustain a bigger challenge to the likes of Martin is his main aim between now and tomorrow’s night’s Grand Prix.
“At the beginning of this sprint race I was quite strong,” added Marini. “But as soon as I started struggling with the rear tyre my pace was finished. Tyre management will be the key of the race tomorrow.”
