Marc Márquez is still taking his first steps with Gresini and Ducati in MotoGP, in a reality very different from his more than a decade with Repsol Honda. Although he had two days of pre-tests at the Qatar GP to help with preparation, the rider is finding things easier this weekend at the Portuguese GP.
The Spanish rider admitted that he didn’t have good levels of confidence in Losail, despite finishing fourth in the main race: ‘It’s easier than Qatar. In Qatar I was struggling a bit more. I was riding… some of you say conservative, but I was just riding without confidence. And then looks conservative, but if you don’t have the confidence, you cannot push’.
According to Márquez, confidence has grown in Portimão thanks to several factors: ‘Here the confidence is better, also the technicians, Frankie [Carchedi, crew chief] started to understand better my riding style. I started to understand better the bike and we did a small change on the bike. I started to know what I need on this bike to be fast and all these things help to have more confidence and be more constant on the lap times – and especially be quick on the times, which is one of the most important things on the race weekends and especially with this tight schedule’.
