Fifth on his showpiece track in Austin – Marc Marquez openly explains why he doesn’t feel comfortable on the Ducati at the moment and where he lacks strength
“A podium, yes, fighting for the podium, but not for the win,” is Marc Marquez’s conclusion after the US Grand Prix at his showpiece track, the Circuit of The Americas, where he has already won seven times.
From sixth on the grid, the Ducati factory rider was fifth after the first lap and quickly dropped back to seventh. On the fourth lap, Marquez completed his long lap penalty, which he had received for the accident with Fabio Di Giannantonio in the sprint.
After that, he was eleventh. “The problem is that in today’s MotoGP it’s practically impossible to ride in the turbulent air. You unintentionally ride a second slower and I knew that I would come out in the middle of the field,“ said Marquez.
”Especially because penalties are always felt in the first laps, that’s where you lose the most, so it’s a penalty. But well, I rode my own race, but we didn’t have the pace to win anyway.”
The first laps of the race are causing the reigning world champion problems this year. This was already evident at the first two race weekends in Thailand and Brazil. The reasons for this are partly technical, partly physical.
“What’s missing is me, not the bike,” he emphasizes, “but on the first laps the bike becomes more aggressive with new tires. I can’t ride the way I want to at the moment. You have to use more power in the first laps, and that’s where I lack that power.”
“I just have to let these laps pass. After that, I’ll find my rhythm. If you look closely: All my fast laps in the race came from lap six, seven, eight, nine, ten – when the tire starts to degrade.“
”I need to understand well how I can improve the first laps. I don’t feel comfortable on the bike. It looks like I’m getting used to a position that’s not a natural position on the bike and then I’m just going there.“
”I’m still fast, but I can’t make a difference.” As the race progressed, Marquez worked his way through the field and finished fifth after a close duel with KTM rider Enea Bastianini.
Team manager Tardozzi assesses the Marquez situation
The fact that his race pace improved after the early stages was also explained by Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi to Sky Italy: “In my opinion, the analysis is that Marc is not one hundred percent fit.”
“Today I’m concentrating on the middle part of the race, when he overtook Raul Fernandez and hung on to ‘Pecco’ and Bastianini. In those, I think, five or six laps he made up eight tenths of a second on Bezzecchi.”
“So if he feels good, he is able to ride part of the race like a number one. I’m sure he’s not [physically] okay,” said Tardozzi. “Unfortunately, the crash in Indonesia last year still has after-effects because he is not fully recovered yet.”
“And what happened on Friday at the beginning of practice obviously exacerbated the problem, but the crash in Indonesia is still haunting him.” When Marquez came back to the pits after the Grand Prix, he rubbed his right shoulder under his leather suit.
Marquez: “100 percent level different after injury”
He wore a bandage on his right forearm and left wrist, where he had suffered abrasions, from the training crash on Friday morning. Already on Friday afternoon, Marquez indicated that he would have to “fight” for the rest of the weekend.
After the Grand Prix he said: “Of course I hit my right arm hard, that’s why the forearm is so swollen, and that didn’t help. It takes strength. We’ll see if we can make any further progress during the three-week break.”
And regarding his right shoulder, which he injured in an accident with Marco Bezzecchi in Indonesia last fall, Marquez says: “It’s not really a new phase. It’s not about whether it’s fast or not. It’s about finding a new 100 percent level.“
”After an injury, the 100 percent level is always different.” After the three overseas races, the reigning world champion is fifth in the world championship. His deficit to serial winner Bezzecchi is 36 world championship points.
“Bezzecchi is obviously in incredible form. He has proven it. He is unstoppable at the moment,” says Marquez about the competition with Aprilia. “Above all, we need to understand why they are making this move on Sundays.”
“On Saturdays we are able to fight or at least stay close, but on Sundays it’s really the case that they are very consistent and very fast.” And how can Ducati react? “It’s a combination. I think if you also make a small step forward with the bike, you gain confidence and are automatically much faster,” said Marquez.
