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MotoGP, Marquez: The first crash? A mistake I shouldn't have made

Marc reflects: "I am in the championship lead and I need to manage it, plus I compromised our work schedule." Pedrosa is 17th: "A lot of stability problems from the start"

MotoGP: Marquez: The first crash? A mistake I shouldn't have made

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The weekend on English soil was a double-sided coin in the Honda camp, and to see that all you need to do is read the results of the first two practice sessions. In fact, Marc Marquez answered roll call on Friday at Silverstone, in any case with a gap of seven tenths behind the lead in 5th place, whereas Dani Pedrosa demonstrated that he still has plenty of work to do, as his 17th best time shows. Going back to the defending champion, his two crashes during FP2 certainly did not help his performance. “The second crash was a consequence of the first, which was significant – Marc explains – since it changed our work schedule for the session, having only one bike available at that point. I made a mistake, erroneously thinking that I could push from the first laps, given the fair weather, but the tyre was probably not up to temperature yet. I am in the championship lead and I need to manage that, taking care not to make mistakes like this. The second bike had a much different setup and I was not able to change it because it would have taken too long. That is why I did not have excellent confidence, but despite that, I did a good time and I am happy about that.”

In his analysis, the Spaniard also talks about the asphalt conditions, which number 93 gives failing marks without any chance for appeal, before going back to talking about his feelings in the saddle.

“There are more bumps than last year. This is a track with a lot of dips and we asked for it to be resurfaced since it is some of the worst asphalt on the calendar. I started this morning with the same base as Spielberg and the Misano tests and I did not feel too bad. However, then the team decided to change a few things since there is a big difference between those two tracks and Silverstone, so in the afternoon we made some changes, but I was unable to really try them out because of the first crash. We will do that tomorrow, working especially on confidence with the front.”

In conclusion, Marquez could not help but talk about his rivals as well, momentarily crowning one of them.

“I think that the Yamahas are fast, especially Viñales, who has the best pace. That is really the most important thing, even more than the top time, since turning one fast lap and two slow is neither indicative, nor useful for the race.”

Moving over to the other side of the garage, the situation is more complicated, with Dani Pedrosa stuck in positions that are not worthy of him.

“I started having stability problems already in FP1 - the number 26 rider analyses - I was unable to control the bike and I couldn’t be fast on all the bumps. In FP2 we did not improve, so all we can do is work hard. We do not know if we will find the solution, but we hope so because we are coming from some good races.”

So there are many problems that keep the Spaniard from focusing on the tyre aspect.

“As grip increases, there will be fewer problems, but today that was not my only problem.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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