After a difficult start to the season, Alex Marquez returned to form in Jerez, pulling away from the pack on the first day of free practice at the Spanish circuit. The Gresini rider topped the timesheets, finishing three-tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rival, Di Giannantonio on the Ducati.
These excellent feelings have brought a smile back to the Spaniard’s face, though he knows he can’t rest on his laurels. Ducati has used the long break to work on its weaknesses, but Aprilia has shown so far that it can improve over the weekend and remains the rival manufacturer par excellence at the start of this Spanish weekend.
“I’m surprised; I didn’t expect to feel this good today,” explained Alex Marquez, “especially coming off three difficult weekends at the start of the season. This morning I had great feelings, in terms of lines and pace—which is the most important thing—without having to fight with the bike, just trying to dance a bit. Having these good feelings allowed me to work well and maintain a good pace, while also testing some things in terms of setup. I’ve always said we need to be patient; our time will come, and we’ve faced very different circuits. I managed to build a good pace, so I’m surprised and also quite happy.”
Given the long break, improvements were expected from Ducati.
"Ducati has worked well these past few weeks, and we’ve been able to analyze a lot of things. We always get updates on the electronics, especially when there’s a four-week break. We have things to test during testing, but we decided to introduce some of them today and give them a try. Positive things, but there wasn’t a huge difference, even though every little bit helps. I told the guys to focus on the positives rather than the negatives, because in the first few races I was thinking too much about those.”
Have you noticed a step forward from Ducati?
"I think it’s still too early to say. We saw in the first races that Aprilia is capable of improving from Friday to Saturday, and on race Sunday they’re always fast and able to maintain a good pace. So it’s too early to say, but in my case, the feeling has improved."
Did you also work on engine braking—was that one of the issues early in the season?
"It was one of the factors, but I don’t know if it was related to the electronics; I couldn’t stop the bike the way I wanted to, and even today there was a bit of that situation, so we haven’t fully resolved it yet. We’re introducing a lot of changes to the electronics, not just related to engine braking. With the freeze imposed by the regulations, we have to find small adjustments to adapt the bike a bit."
Are the feelings the same as last year?
"I don’t have a great memory, but today I felt more or less in the same place, though I was struggling more under braking. So that’s the aspect we need to work on, even though the feeling in the corners is better, so the two things balance each other out."
Right now, Di Giannantonio seems to be the rival to beat.
"He’s one of the rivals; Marco is also very competitive, and Aprilia has shown us they can make progress over the weekend. There’s still a lot to figure out, but I think in terms of pace, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, and I have a different level compared to the others."