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MotoGP, Marquez: The save? One of the best of my career

"It was long and I used my knee, things like that mean that we are struggling. For the race Lorenzo is the favourite, but I am close"

MotoGP: Marquez: The save? One of the best of my career

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An unreal save, passage from Q1 and second place on the starting grid. There is no denying it: the afternoon in Barcelona for Marc Marquez was anything but poor in excitement. “I always believed in us because even being in Q1, we were close to the leaders. In FP3, I didn’t finish the lap, but it was positive to do Q1 in order to have a reference in Q2 and to be fast already with the first tyre. We are fast by struggling but we are there. I am happy with the position, even if Petrucci got in my way on the last lap.”

Obviously, it is impossible not to focus on the astonishing save Marc made in the finale of FP4.  

“I lost the front end and I fought against bike and knee. I pushed to the maximum. It seemed like I had made it but then I lost it again on the dirt and had to get it back. All of that means that we are struggling with the front end, so we have work to do. I felt the front end almost close up and it was a long save, maybe the best one of my career. From this race, I have larger elbow protection. At Mugello I tried to save the crash but pushing with the leathers is more difficult. This time I used my knee, so now we need to work on that (laughing).”

Now it is time to think about the race, for which number 93 has a clear favourite in mind.

“Jorge is the favourite and I don’t say that just to take pressure off myself. His pace is better but we are not far off. There are two or three tenths of difference that maybe we can recover by sorting a few things. Tyre choice will be important: I’ll put the hard on the front because it is the only one to finish the race, whereas on the rear I need to decide. It’s difficult for Michelin to have good options for everyone. I struggled at Mugello with the tyres, for example, so I understand their difficulty with the new asphalt.”

Continuing to talk about the race, Marc provides more details on his situation: “I am starting with the intention of battling for the win, but the podium is definitely possible. To earn points, various things need to align. Two races ago, the Honda seemed like a super bike, but this is the world championship and there are tracks where the bike does better and others where it does worse.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser

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