Marquez: “The first accident with Ducati happened, but it was timely”

Interesting sayings from Mark Marquez at Dazn at the conclusion of testing in Qatar, in which he finished fourth, 0.3 off the lead, up twelve places from the previous day and cutting the lead by six tenths. And all this in the day he first fell onto the handlebars of a Ducati during a race simulation. He programmed it for 20 laps, but crashed on the 12th lap. The first miss was bound to happen sooner or later, but there were no consequences, and he was well aware that this could happen, because the Gresini Racing driver assures that he was pushing hard. .

“The pre-season assessment, which is a small part of what you do on the last day, was good because it was firm and didn’t make us nervous about sticking to the time that was set to get to know the bike.

It’s true that today was the first day that I increased the intensity of my cycling, the first day that I said: “If I fall, I will fall.” And the first fall came, but it was its own. It was the last day of preseason and it was time to bring this issue up. In the race simulation I challenged myself because there are areas that need to be improved, especially in relation to Pecco, Bastianini and Martin, who I quote from the same factory. We will see what happens at the Grand Prix, although we are still a little far from these three or four riders who matter,” began the words of the eight-time champion.

When journalist Izascun Ruiz asked him if he already knew whether his own 2023 Desmosedici could stand up to the 2024 Desmosedici, he was unapologetic: “I don’t know, but I’m not going to think about whether my bike is a 23-24 or a 24-23. With what I have, I will try my best.

I’m having fun, that’s important. I’m enjoying. Whether I’ll be ahead or not, we’ll see. Ahead it is true that you have the best time, but at the moment Pecco, Bastianini and Martin have a little more time than the rest, but today we managed to reduce the distance that we had in Malaysia. We still have two or three tenths left, which will be difficult to lose.”

As for the condition of his right hand, which was operated on four times in two years, he assures that “The arm is responding well, but this arm has had four surgeries and requires more care than the other and needs to be well taken care of. I have to treat myself, but oh well, I had a normal pre-season and could train at home. I was doing a race simulation here and crashed on lap 12, but I was planning on doing 20, and when you plan it that way, you really feel good.”

As for his options for starting the championship, he continues with reserve: “Realistically, at the moment we are fighting for fifth or sixth place, but this is very relative, because when you get here in the Grand Prix, it changes you. .tires on the track and that changes everything. If the race had been today, we would have been fourth, fifth or sixth at best.

There are three other riders who, fortunately, work at the same factory as me, and I can and should learn from them how to get the most out of the bike.”