Luca Marini “expected more” from Barcelona MotoGP Sprint

Luca Marini was left feeling unfulfilled by his Sprint performance at the Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP, which he finished in 15th.

Marini’s pace, he said, was acceptable, but he lost too much time at the start when he was unable to take advantage of the grip offered by a fresh, soft-compound rear tyre.

“I expected a little bit more, sincerely,” Marini said.

“At the beginning I was not so fast, I couldn’t use the extra grip of the rear tyre to make the lap time at the beginning so I lost a lot of time in the first two laps. But then my pace was okay, nothing special but I would say okay.”

Track conditions had improved compared to Friday, Marini felt, but were still worse than in May’s Catalan Grand Prix. That he was able to match his lap times from May indicated that Marini and Honda have taken a step forward over the past six months.

“[The track was] a little bit better,” Marini said, comparing the surface to Friday after Saturday’s Sprint.

“The lap time was not fantastic even this morning in qualifying. We were able to make the same lap time as the other race here, but the other riders no.

“So, this means that our bike has improved for sure, but also that the track conditions were a little bit more difficult than in May and this was not expected because also we had a softer rear tyre.

“But, anyway, for everybody the same, the track conditions, we just need to work better.”

Tyre choice remains a conundrum for Sunday. Marini said it’s “impossible” that the soft-compound rear tyre can last the full race distance: “It’s impossible. Even in the Sprint race it had two big drops and it was a disaster.”

That leaves a medium-compound rear tyre and a hard-compound rear tyre, choosing between which will depend on the temperature when the riders line up on the grid ahead of the warm-up lap for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“At the moment it’s a little bit difficult to say for sure between the medium [compound rear tyre] and the hard [compound rear tyre],” Marini said.

“It will depend on the temperature. If it will be cold, maybe a little bit colder than today, for sure the medium [compound] rear will be the best choice; if it will be a little bit more hot, the hard [compound rear tyre] will be better in my opinion.

“And the hard [compound] front is a very good tyre, so the riders not using the hard [compound] front I don’t understand.”