Marc Marquez outlines pace fears if Australian MotoGP race “like a rally”
Gresini rider has mixed thoughts on challenging Jorge Martin on Sunday
Marc Marquez believes he can challenge Jorge Martin in Sunday’s MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, but not if it is “like a rally race”.
Marquez topped Friday’s running at Phillip Island, but was convinced the GP24s would take a step forward compared to him come Saturday once they’d had time to analyse data from practice.
Indeed, Martin dominated a tricky qualifying to claim pole ahead of Marquez and was untouchable in the sprint as he beat the Gresini rider by 1.5s after easing off in the last laps.
Marquez’s race was compromised by him not ‘calculating’ Martin’s braking point at Turn 1 on the first lap, which sent the eight-time world champion wide and forced him into a fightback from eighth.
“Today before the race I said ‘Ok, will be a normal first lap and then it will be an easier race’,” he told motogp.com.
“But immediately in the first corner I did a mistake. I didn’t calculate well the way that Martin braked.
“It’s true that he braked super aggressively but it’s the way to disengage the front device, the rear device after the start.
“So, that small mistake plus the wind cost me a lot of positions. Then, from that point, I concentrated well, I tried to push from the beginning on that lap, don’t exaggerate because it’s easy to exaggerate and do more mistakes.
“So, I just focused on that second position. When I arrived there I tried to push for two laps, but I saw Martin reacted in a good way. Tomorrow we will have another opportunity.”
Marquez believes he can challenge Martin on Sunday, but fears that a spread out ‘rally race’ will favour the Pramac rider more than him.
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” he replied when asked if he could take the fight to Martin in the grand prix.
“I think yes, but of course at the moment, honestly speaking, tomorrow if we have like a ‘rally race’ [with] everybody alone, he’s faster than me.
“So, let’s see if we can do a good first lap and especially try to understand the wind, the track temperature, because here the wind direction changes and it changes the riding style.”
In terms of tyre choice for the grand prix, Marquez is unsure what approach he will take and needs Michelin “to inform” him about any potential blistering that might occur.
“Right now, in the sprint, the soft rear was the correct option,” he said.
“But we need to cut the tyre, understand how the tyre wear is. Michelin needs to inform the teams how is that famous blistering because new asphalt normally it’s there.
“But let’s see. I think it will be between the soft rear and medium, but it will be crucial because here when you drop the tyre you can be one, two seconds slower.”
