English
Italiano
Just like in Thailand, it was the Marquez brothers who monopolized the first two podium positions in Argentina, with Marc winning the Sprint ahead of Alex. Another victory, the third in a row, achieved by the Spaniard with fluency and absolute mastery of his Ducati, but with a smaller margin over his younger brother, who was able to stay in his wake until the checkered flag.
"I was fast some laps, but looking at the times you could see that I was not perfectly consistent. We worked on the set-up and electronics, and now it seems to be improved. I'd like to take another step forward tomorrow, though, because it's never enough and my brother was too close this time," Marc remarked jokingly. "I know tomorrow will be tough, because I expect Alex and Pecco to be very strong."
Alex, for that matter, seemed to have a very similar pace to his brother.
"I lapped as hard as I could. We lapped in the 1'37 high for the whole race and I thought that if he attacked me by lapping at that pace it meant he had a lot more than me. So I tried to manage the tire a little bit and push when there were four laps to go and when I saw that there were seven tenths between us I managed the margin - explained the 32-year-old to our Sky Sports colleagues, talking about his handling of the race - I'm happy to have run another Sprint Race with good feelings and fighting with my brother, who is going very strong at this start of the season. He will win more than one race, because he is riding very well and managing the tires very well as well. Tomorrow, however, I also expect a very strong Pecco, because he is the man for Sunday."
Always ahead in all but one of the rounds so far, the eldest of the Marquez brothers nevertheless remains the big favorite for the Grand Prix as well, which would represent his fourth consecutive victory. A perfect start to the season so far, which has managed to amaze even the Spanish rider himself.
"I didn't imagine this," he admitted, "I wanted a good start, maybe being among the top every race, but I'm feeling good and also with the team we are working better and better. Here, where we struggled a little bit more with the feeling on the bike, we were able to improve with each session and I think we can take another small step forward again tomorrow in Warm-Up. I'm glad we started like this, but we're only in the second race; there's still so much to go."
In what can the eight-time world champion still improve?
"Here it's very important to understand the grip at the rear and what the rear tire does on corner entry and exit, and that's where I'm lacking a little bit of information at the moment," answered the official Ducati rider, who seems to have already made big strides compared to yesterday on the electronics front: "Now we have a good base on the electronics, because the team has done an extraordinary job. Now it's a matter of making a few small adjustments for the main race, but it's time to play a little bit with the setup we've made as well. Rigamonti has some ideas, so we'll see, because in tomorrow's Warm-Up you have to try the tire and the set-up, and with ten minutes to spare sometimes you get more confused. So if we try anything, it will be something very small."
The rider from Cervera then commented on Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola's proposal to change the rulebook to allow Martin to test with the RS-GP before tackling his first Grand Prix of the year.
"It can be a good rule, but for the future. At the moment the regulation is not like that: when I came back from my injury this rule was not there," he recalled, "You could introduce a rule to allow a rider who is out of competition for two months to do one day of testing. Not more, because two days would already be too much: one day of testing is enough to get the rhythm with the bike. You could put a minimum time, but the teams have to decide. For the rider it's important, but in the end, when you go two months without riding a MotoGP bike, one more or less day of testing doesn't change much. You need time to get your rhythm back."
Marc, on the other hand, does not seem to have as clear ideas about the choice of tires with which to tackle tomorrow's GP.
"At the front medium, at the rear a black tire," he remarked, laughing, "I mean we are not sure. I think I am the rider who has tried both compounds the most, because I feel good with both. Now we have to figure out what condition the soft we finished the Sprint with is in, and maybe tomorrow morning we will have the opportunity to try the rear medium again."
