Marc Marquez could only manage third position at the fourth round of the MotoGP season in front of his home crowd at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.
Having possibly run out of fuel to complete his sighting lap to return to the pits after the race, the Repsol Honda rider had to receive a lift from on a scooter back to parc ferme; it is thought that the rear tyres are ‘spinning’ excessively and causing the fuel to be wasted.
Marquez managed to qualify on the front row of the grid in third, which is where he ended up at the end of the race. He briefly lost third position to his teammate Dani Pedrosa, but this gave him the ‘wake-up call’ he needed and he pushed a little harder. He was then able to pursue Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo closely in the hunt for second place before having to settle for third.
“In the beginning I already see that the feeling was not exactly same as yesterday but anyway I push and I try and push behind Lorenzo but I nearly crash one, two, three times and I say ‘OK’ sixteen points for the championship. These two guys today were faster.”
Race day was the hottest day of the weekend meaning that the Spaniard struggled to adapt to the increase.
“Today was a really difficult day for me. It looks like with more temperature we struggle a lot especially with my running. This time I need to push a lot on the braking points and the front tyre was pretty soft and in the beginning I was able to keep the rhythm but then I saw that I nearly crashed one, two three times, and I say “Remember experience! Remember last year! We are losing a lot of acceleration and then we need to brake too late anyway we will try to manage.”
Marquez remains the championship leader with eighty-two points; seventeen ahead of second place Lorenzo.
“The most important is that we are leading the championship so for that is the reason I am happy and in front of all these fans I expect a better race but today wasn’t possible. Sixteen points today is a time to finish third and it was difficult to choose this decision because it was in front of our fans. But anyway it was the best result for today.
Speaking of his future championship hopes Marquez appears to be taking a more mature approach than previous seasons.
“If I want to have chance in this championship I need to manage the situations. I need to try to be smart and try to understand when we cannot win. Both Yamahas were strong in Jerez, we made profit in Argentina and Austin, but we must improve a lot if we a lot if we want to fight with both of them.”
The next round of the MotoGP season will take part in Le Mans, France on Sunday 8th May.
“We will try to do our best, and if in Le Mans we have to finish third, we will try to finish third again, but we hope to do slightly better.”
