Marc Marquez almost managed to shine in today’s sprint race with a 4th place. And we talk about brilliance because it was the Repsol Honda rider himself who admitted that he was not expecting to get this position in the short race:
– No, no (I didn’t expect 4th place), because yesterday I was 11th, but with a pace very far (from the front). Today I was 8th, but my pace was too far away. But yes, in the Sprint race I managed to start very well, the start was one of the best of the year and then a good first lap where I overtook some riders. Then I felt very good in the race. It’s true that I wasn’t the fastest, but I felt good.
The spanish rider also ended the debrief by explaining the strategy he adopted for qualifying and the one he intends to adopt for the long race:
– The strategy in Q1 was the Gresini drivers, but our pit box is further ahead, so I was late and it’s normal. Sometimes it happens, if they’re fast, you’re late. Then when you go out, there are a lot of riders waiting and I’m not going to be the first to pull. On the first tyre I think I was behind Espargaro, Pol, but not too close. In the last one I was behind Jack (Miller), but Jack was behind (Joan) Mir, Mir was behind (Enea) Bastianini. We had a lot of riders behind each other, but we were able to take advantage of that. (…) For tomorrow it depends. We have to understand the rear tyre, because our bike with the hard rear tyre, I’m struggling a lot, because we don’t have the ability to stop in a straight line at the braking points and I’m suffering more. But we have to understand which rear tyre. Then, depending on the rear tyre, it’s going to be one strategy or another.