Two weeks following making a tremendous comeback and obtaining sixth place in Austin, Marc Márquez will try to continue his progress this weekend in Portugal. The Spanish driver spoke at the press conference in the preamble to the GP, and we transcribe all of his statements here.
Marc, you gave us a fantastic comeback in the last round in Austin. You have indeed carved out a path through the peloton to move up from last to sixth place. It looks like you’ve got your confidence back now…
The weekend in Austin was of course satisfying, because we wanted to regain confidence and that’s what we did. We started the weekend in a good way and we delivered a solid performance, and that was the most important thing. It is true that I always want more, and despite this comeback and sixth place, we wanted to achieve more. But the thing is, we had a technical problem on the grid at the start, and that’s something that can happen with the new bike. The main thing in all of this is that the problem has been identified and solved. Now we have to turn to this weekend and try to continue our progress.
Last year at this time you made your return to competition following nine months of absence. What shape are you in now?
Of course it was an incredible feeling to come back to Portimão last year following such a long recovery. The past year has not been easy either, with many ups and downs and many injuries. But we are once more here in Portugal to fight, and it is true that within our garage I do not have many references because I rode here only once and my performance was mixed then . But in the last race here that I was away once more [pour cause de diplopie], Álex Márquez and Pol Espargaró had been very fast. So we have to understand here if we can continue on the same path that was ours in Austin. We have to confirm here what we did there. For the rest, I approach this weekend without any particular expectation. I will just try to understand the situation, feel the bike well, and following the warm-up I think we will have a better idea of where we stand.
Can you tell us precisely what was the nature of your technical problem on the starting grid in Austin?
I’m sorry but I can’t say what exactly happened on the grid. In ten years with the HRC I had never had the slightest problem during a race day, and it is of course when I am most vulnerable that it happens. But followingwards I told the guys that it might happen sometimes, once in ten years… I can’t complain, it’s often me who falls like in Indonesia where I fell four times, and yet my mechanics never gave me the slightest comment. On the contrary, they all wore a cheerful expression. We are a team, and we work in the same direction, whether in good times or in bad times.
The Portimão track has many elevation changes as well as blind corners. At first glance it looks like a fast and daredevil track. So it looks like this route is for you. How excited are you to hit the track this weekend here?
I really like this route, with its elevations, its varied turns that are sometimes a bit strange. It’s a circuit where you have to have a fluid pilot to fully understand the different sequences. I remember that last year I spoke with Miguel Oliveira, who at the time was the latest winner here, who confirmed to me that we had to let ourselves be carried away on this track. The thing is, I think that’s true, and I think everything is easier if you find that fluidity. The problem here comes when you start fighting with the bike. So we’ll see what happens. Normally we will be entitled to a fairly stable weekend as far as the weather is concerned, but for me the most important thing is to fully understand this new bike and this new package on the European circuits, which as everyone knows are tighter and often require more precise steering.
Just before the round in Austin you explained that you wanted to take things more calmly now, but in the end you were particularly aggressive in the race. Did you ever think of a possible victory in Texas?
I will have the same approach in Portimão, namely to take things calmly. But I must say that if I go on track and my feelings are good, then my DNA forces me to attack, that’s how it is. That’s what I did in Austin, and that’s what I’ll do once more here if my feelings are good. It’s true that in Austin I controlled myself a lot so as not to suffer in terms of my physical condition, and that helped me a lot for the race on Sunday. Here it will be the same, and the weather conditions might also help me with possibly the rain which might appear and reduce the physical effort necessary to drive well. After that, my best result this season is fifth place, and I can’t suddenly tell myself that I’m going to go from fifth to first place. There are steps to take before that, including the podium for example, or another top 5. But the fact is that with the current situation in MotoGP, it is not possible to approach a weekend with a clear objective in mind.
