Marquez: Tomorrow’s race is still an unknown
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez claimed his 65th career pole position after a brilliantly judged strategy saw the Spaniard storm to the top of the qualifying time sheets in Phillip Island.
Marquez began the day in fine fashion, topping this morning’s FP3 with a lap of 1m33.255s and making it safely through to the second part of qualifying. When QP2 got underway, the track was showing signs of a dry line and the intermediate-shod Spaniard immediately darted back into pit lane for slick tyres.
Marquez then began a sequence of fastest laps, culminating with a superb 1m30189s to go eight tenths of a second clear of the field. The run of flying laps also allowed him to gather some valuable dry weather data for the race, enabling him to discover areas to improve in Sunday’s 30-minute warm up session.
Despite feeling comfortable in both the dry and the wet, Marquez remains wary ahead of tomorrow’s 27-lap race. As dry track time has been limited to just 15 minutes in qualifying, he is still unsure as to what tyre to use, a decision made slightly more difficult by the cooler temperature and Phillip Island’s harshness on tyres.
The Honda rider is also unaware as to who his main rivals will be in the race, with both factory Yamaha riders starting out of position in 12th and 15th respectively. But, he remains upbeat over his prospects for the race and will look to make the ‘best of any situation’ he encounters tomorrow afternoon.
“I’m happy because, in addition to the pole, I was able to put in five laps and I noticed some things we can improve tomorrow. For example, we can get more grip, especially with the rear and on corner entry,” said Marquez.
“In FP4, in the wet, I felt very comfortable, so this weekend we’re getting things right and we have to maintain this dynamic. Tomorrow’s race is still an unknown because we aren’t sure what tyres we’ll use, nor who our rivals will be, but we’ll try to make the best of any situation we find. All the best to my brother Alex who’s going to Melbourne hospital for a medical check after crashing in the Moto2 qualifying. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.”