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After gaining direct access to Q2, Honda’s Spanish rider was the protagonist of a Sprint that saw him take to the track with a knife between his teeth. Marc went on the warpath, finishing at the foot of the podium after overtaking Aleix Espargarò at the end.
A certainly positive result for the #93 after all the difficulties encountered between Indonesia and Australia. Marc therefore sees the glass half full after a Friday that was not at all easy.
“Let's say I had a better pace than I expected – he began – initially I managed to get into Q2 and then obtained the third row, which was the maximum I could aspire to in view of the Sprint Race. It is a positive fourth place, which was conditioned by Aleix's errors during the last lap. I did not win, Aleix lost the position because he was one second in front of me more or less and he made a big mistake in Turn 1 and another one in Turn 3. I put myself in front, but I knew he would pass me, and I preferred him to do it where he did rather than at the last corner. I had no traction and he passed me with traction. If he hadn't passed me there, he would have passed me in turn 11. He didn't know how I was, but I knew how he was, because he wasn't behind me. That's why I preferred him to pass me there and I didn't put up much resistance, because if I had to gamble, I would have done it on the last corner. The fact is that, after the difficulties of the last few races, we managed to make a good step forward, considering that we couldn't have done more than that."
The glass is therefore half full.
“I'd say I had fun; I had some good battles today even though I was suffering in terms of traction and at the end I was in slight difficulty with the tyres. However, I managed to get off to a good start in the race, as never before this year. At the end, however, I suffered tyre degradation, in fact I didn't think I'd get to fourth place.
In all of this, confirmation has arrived that Marc will test the Gresini team's Ducati during the Valencia tests.
“I am certainly grateful to Honda for offering me this opportunity. In the end it's not a day of testing, but two months. If I hadn't been able to lap it would have been a problem, I would have had to wait more than two months. I wouldn't have liked going into the winter without having tested the bike. However, Honda didn't get in my way and I'm grateful."
Marc is now focussing on Sunday.
“Tomorrow will be miles more difficult, and I certainly won't be able to take today's risks. To have today's pace it will be necessary to brake to the limit and all this will affect the tyre. With 13 laps to do it's possible, but with 23 everything becomes much more complicated. Furthermore, tomorrow many riders will choose the hard, a tyre that is much more difficult for us to exploit."
In addition to the tyre there is another aspect.
“The fact of putting double the litres in the tank complicates braking because you put stress on the front and then all this has repercussions on the rear. Ducati and Aprilia don't have this type of problem, unlike us."
