English
Italiano
Marco Bezzecchi can archive the Austrian round with a smile, "I'm back to having fun" he said at the end of the race, a race in which he was back enjoying some good overtaking moves at the expense of the KTMs of Miller and Binder. A 6th place finish in a season that is not easy for the VR46 rider, who has been struggling since the beginning of the year with a GP23 that he does not ride the way he would like, also because of the new Michelin casings.
There is perhaps some regret for not having been able to stem the arrival of an explosive Marc Marquez coming from the rear after the problem at the start, although the Rimini rider sportingly admitted that today the Spaniard "had more and managed the rear better." Along with the podium in Jerez, Austria has thus brought back a bit of a smile on the face of Bez, who at Mugello downplayed the situation by imagining himself "zen" on his helmet, and with the two home rounds at the Misano circuit coming up in September we may see that smile again soon.
"It was a pretty positive weekend compared to the last ones," Marco Bezzecchi said, "so I'm pretty satisfied. The start went better and the work we did yesterday paid off especially in the early stages of the race. I put myself at a good distance from Binder and was trying to manage the tires, so when I saw Marc approaching I tried to attack Binder. Unfortunately, I didn't succeed right away on the first attempt and the front tire temperature went up a lot, so I had to go back into management with Marc coming up behind. I tried to hang on a little bit but as soon as he passed me he got some distance then passed Brad as well. He clearly had more or he wouldn't have gone so fast, I think he managed better, especially the rear tire. Overall, though, I'm pretty satisfied with this race."
Is it harder to pass a KTM than an Aprilia?
"Aleix usually lifts off hard, as does Jack, especially when he feels he has someone behind. So passing Miller was not easy, I passed him twice, the first time at turn 9 but my line was wide and I had to catch him again at turn 1. I'm happy because it's been a while since I could lift off hard enough to overtake like I did last year, I had fun."
Did you change anything in the bike setup that helped you with that or is it also because of the track?
"This track actually more than helps you complicates your life. It's very difficult to find references, it tempts you to lift off harder and harder but it's not always the best solution. Definitely it was a mix of bike and riding, in the latter I am still trying to make steps forward to improve and with the team we did a great job. The bike from Friday stayed pretty much the same except for some electronics details."
The transition to the GP23 was more challenging than to the GP22 last year.
"I don't think it's an issue related only to the bike. I think the new tire construction has affected in the overall context, it tends to be that the GP23 has more grip than the GP22 especially in the corner both under braking and acceleration. Usually that should be an advantage, but the new Michelin tires right at that stage still have more grip. I personally who have a riding style based on the rear, riding with slight oversteer with the GP22 had found almost a perfect union. It was a bike that did what I wanted at that stage, and I didn't have to adapt that much, except in the braking sections where I was away from Pecco and Martin and had to work on a lot. On this one, on the other hand, I had become insufficient, even now sometimes I couldn't turn the bike, I suffer in corner entry which was my strong point, and I can hardly ever ride the way I want to ride. I always feel like I'm riding on top of the problems. Unfortunately in today's MotoGP if you lose even 1 or 2 tenths you suck. So the bike itself is not so different, but this combination of factors to me is creating problems even now."
Apart from Jerez was the race this season where you had the most fun so far?
"Definitely I had more fun here than at Jerez, there of course there was the podium but that conditions you in the fun, it's obvious to have fun when you do a great result and it's right to do so. Clearly though in terms of overtaking today I was back having some fun, I made two-three overtakes which is not easy anyway, so I would put the two races on par, but only because at Jerez I made a podium."
