Marquez: At the moment “can be in the top three”, but late crash due to “riding like a Honda”
Marc Marquez finished day one of the Portugal in third place, feeling confident about his chances in the race but cautions that qualifying will be the key for the weekend.
Shehryar Bin Shahid 22nd March 2024
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Marc Marquez kicked things off on Friday by topping the opening practice session before going on to finish the second practice in P3.
While the opening practice couldn’t be regarded as a representative session due to the dust being cleared up by the riders for most of the session, however, it was the practice two session where Marquez impressed the most.
The eight-time world champion was consistently at the sharp end of the field, spending most of the one-hour session in the top three places.
“I’m super happy about this Friday,” said Marquez. “I was feeling better and better in FP1, [and then] in FP2 and I was working quite well for the rhythm so yeah, I was riding in a good way.”
If there was one area where Marquez would like to work on, it would be in the last sector, where he was losing close to three-tenths to Friday’s fastest man Enea Bastianini.
“I feel well on the bike, so let’s see if tomorrow we can improve that T4, that is the one [area] that still I’m struggling a bit, but step by step we must keep working and keep improving.”
Despite positive feelings all around, Marquez did end up washing away his Gresini Ducati bike at turn five. He feels that it might have something to do with his old habits…
“On that time attack, I mean most of the crashes of the riders arrive in the end of practice and that is the time attack for the qualifying practice.”
“On that turn five, I was quite used to riding that way with Honda, going in super fast with so much slide and I tried to do the same but at the moment you know I need to explore a bit better [this] Ducati bike at other points
“But [overall] it’s working super good, I’m feeling well with the bike so I know on that corner I need to be careful.
When quizzed about his predictions for the race, Marquez felt that qualifying will be the key to a successful weekend in Portugal, and with improving track conditions, we might see regular contenders like Bagnaia and Martin back in the mix.
“It depends a lot on the qualifying practice,” said the eight-time world champion. “It’s crucial to be on the first two rows.”
“If you are on the first row, second row then it will be an easier race but it will be difficult [to qualify in the front two rows] especially because the track will improve, and I think the top riders like Bagnaia and Martin will arrive.”
“At the moment we are there in the top five, we can even say in the top three, on the rhythm but it’s Friday so tomorrow we will see in the sprint race if we can fight for that top five, [which] will be the target.
