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Marc Marquez is becoming more and more familiar with a Ducati which is proving to be very different from the Honda he was used to. It's not just about pure technical potential, but also about how this potential is to be brought out of the bike. Today the Spaniard ended the day with an excellent third position, but he also had his first crash while he was doing a time attack. A fall occurred at corner entry, with the bike sideways exactly as he used to do with the RCV. It's a shame that the Ducati doesn’t tolerate this type of riding particularly well.
"A good Friday, I saw that on a different track I can go fast - said Marc - I was fast, but not very fast because the track wasn't at the top and I know that when the track is like that my sensitivity is one of my strong points. We worked a lot for race conditions, so I think I'm in the right direction, both myself and the team with the bike."
In the last corner you didn't seem very comfortable.
"One of my weak points has always been the last corner, it was also the case with the Honda here, so it's nothing new for me. Today and tomorrow I'll have to work a little on the lines, on the way to open the throttle. I'm not very slow there, but I know that in other points of the track I'm quite fast. I have to try to minimize the damage at that point of the track."
What happened with the crash?
"We did a small change on the bike, it gave me more confidence, if you have more confidence, you are able to push more and step by step we need to go in that way. The crash, for example, was on the time attack, on the last time attack, and as I said yesterday when I was behind somebody with Honda I felt better. With the Ducati, I feel worse. So, it's there where I try to manage in a new way. I lost the rear on entry, it was a strange crash, but in the end, I did a mistake and I need to analyse well. I think I know why I crashed."
Did your memory of how your rode the Honda influence you then?
"As I said to you, when I do time attack my instinct arrives and then I was used to going super-fast on the apex with the Honda with some sliding. With this bike, you need to ride in a different way, the potential is in another area. In that braking point I had the shaking on the first part, and then the speed was too fast but I tried to go in with that instinct with some slide. But now we know that I can't. At least I know I got all my times on my own, so they are more truthful benchmarks."
How do you feel having almost achieved the best time of the day?
"It makes me happy that I'm having fun, I'm in the top five and when you're there you start to have fun, you start to be consistent and in fact in my second run I was very consistent. I know that tomorrow the track will improve and the others will arrive like Pecco and Martìn, there they will be faster riders than me like it was in Qatar. But it's not a bad situation and I'm enjoying it, which is really the best thing."
Do you feel better in Portimao than in Qatar?
"In Qatar I was struggling a bit more. I was riding some of you would say conservative, but I was just riding without confidence. And it looks conservative, but if you don't have the confidence you can't push. So, here the confidence is better. Also, Frankie starts to understand better my riding style, I start to understand better the bike and we did a small change on the bike. I start to know what I need on the bike to be fast. And all these things help to have more confidence and be faster on the lap times. And especially be quick on the times, which is one of the most important things on the race weekend."
Today you gave everything, what mark would you give yourself?
"I push, but everyone does. The afternoon session became very stressful, the most stressful of the weekend. You have to work well for the race, you can't crash with the first bike, you know that you have to do at least three time attacks to stay at the top ten, it's very stressful mentally, but today I was really happy. I would give myself a 9, but I crashed so I give myself an 8. If I had been at the front I would have given myself a 10!".
