Marquez ‘expected more’, going to race ‘confident’

Soon after his worst ever qualifying performance at the Spanish Grand Prix, Marc Marquez acknowledged his strategy for Saturday afternoon’s MotoGP Q2 shootout was the wrong one, but still goes into race day feeling ‘confident’ of his victory chances.

Marquez could do no better than place fifth around the newly named Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto after he failed to piece together a perfect first flying lap on both of his two runs. Eventual pole sitter Cal Crutchlow used a two-stop strategy to good effect, a tactic the six-time world champion would later feel was more appropriate for the 15-minute session.

“Of course I expected more because the target was try to fight for the pole position,” said Marquez, who incredibly had never qualified lower than fourth in all three classes at the Andalusian venue before today.

“But on one hand today I am happy because the rhythm is good. I feel good with the bike. Tomorrow will be important to choose the rear tyre especially. The front tyre we will go with the hard one. But on the other hand, it was not my best qualifying.

“Real potential of the tyre was on the first lap, and with both tyres I did a big mistake in the first lap and I lose many tenths. But anyway, today Cal did the correct strategy.

“I was thinking about that strategy but it was not possible because the second bike was with another setup. But we work a lot for the race. Disappointed for the quali, but anyway we start there. We start fifth, so we are close.”

Marquez had gone under the outright lap record toward the end of the morning FP3 session, and his pace in the first and fourth sectors were ominous for the opposition. Come the afternoon, however, and he was unable to assert the same authority in the final sector of each flying lap.

Quizzed about this, Marquez responded, “The other Honda riders are using a slightly different gearbox [gearing]. We will try to adjust with my riding style on that way, but still we need to check. We need to check where I am losing and what we need to do to improve. But it’s only Cal. He’s very fast there.

“The other riders, we are very, very close. Here the riding style and the bike is changing a lot when you have new tyres, when you have used tyres. You must understand try to sacrifice with the new tyre and have better bike with a used tyre, or the opposite. So with the used tire I feel good. I feel confident. This is the most important for the race.”

One of the changes in set-up between his number one and two bikes to which Marquez was referring was a carbon swingarm. The differences between the carbon component and the conventional part are minimal he said, with the former offering a “little bit extra grip.”

“Basically in this circuit we don’t feel a big difference but it looks like we gain a little bit more grip with the used tyre. This morning I did the best lap time with the aluminium one. So, it’s not a big difference. This afternoon I use the carbon one because it gives a little bit extra grip, but it’s very, very small difference. On the lap times, it’s very small.”

The 25-year old suffered his second fall of the weekend in FP4, an incident that didn’t make much sense as he gathered his thoughts in the gravel on the outside of turn two.

“It didn’t affect me, but was a crash that I didn't learn anything from that crash. From yesterday I learn, but because I was slow. It was Dani in front and I said, ‘OK, this lap I slow down.’ I was not pushing on that lap. [It was] Strange but it’s something that I will need to consider for the race.”