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Assen welcomed Marc Marquez who was clearly tried after last weekend at the Sachsenring; he was 19th at the end of the two free practice sessions. After numerous crashes, the Spanish rider opted not to race on the German circuit, but four days was not enough for anyone to recover from his injuries, and the eight-time world champion thus opted for a more cautious approach to the technical difficulties imposed by the Dutch circuit. His body might be tested, but the spirit of sacrifice remains, and Marc was back on the bike to collect valuable data for Honda and not to lose that competitive routine, which is essential for a rider who aspires to compete at the highest levels.
“I was suffering. The ankle and the finger is broken, but this was OK. Acceptable. But the rib, on the last sector it’s painful and especially when I start to breathe more and more, it’s more and more pain, and I'm losing a lot of time. The only point where I feel more or less OK is T1, because it's slow corners and it's where I push and I try to be faster. But I was all day like cruising, trying things and then from one run to another run, to try and go one second and a half faster is not easy. Tomorrow in Qualifying 1 I will try to push a bit to not start on the last row, to try to start on the second last maybe, or third last. And finish the weekend.”
Sachsenring left a deep impression on the Spaniard, not only in terms of his body but also in terms of expectations.
"I had to lower my expectations, I'll try to finish the race, mostly because I'm not feeling well. In the other weekends, I felt good, I was able to push. But this weekend, I didn’t race in Sachsenring because I wasn’t feeling well and I feel pain, and we’re on the bike after four days. So, the body recovered a little bit, but still it’s painful. So, I feel a big limitation there.”
Did you expect another crash?
"I was behind Maverick, I was losing more or less a tenth, I was trying to recover in that corner to get close to him in turn 5, or I would have lost another tenth. I crashed because I was pushing."
That Marquez gave precedence to caution today can also be seen from the fastest lap times.
"In the fast lap I tried to minimize the risks, in the first two sectors I pushed hard, but in the third and fourth I concentrated on not crashing."
We also saw you go in with the Honda for some testing, do you think your feedback is needed right now even though you haven't fully recovered yet?
“I’m competing because I then have one month and a half off. And with the feeling of Sachsenring, to then be two months without the bike, believe me, that's not the best for a rider. So I need this weekend. I need it about the mental side. I need to keep riding, keep going and of course, when you have a difficult moment, the motivation is not there, but you need to keep your routines. You need to keep the same way to work and then believe to change the situation in the future.”
What matters more, your mental state or feedback on the bike?
"Both are important. Me and Nakagami today we were testing both chassis again, tomorrow I will have two bikes with the same chassis and just to understand and to keep going, to feel. We are trying some things in the electronics too. So it's true that my level this weekend is far from what I showed during all the year. But sometimes you need to slow down a bit.”
