Ducati rookie Marc Marquez completes dozens of laps at Sepang on Wednesday and sees progress, but still says: “I ride the Ducati like a Honda “
After Marc Marquez struggled with technical problems on the first day of MotoGP testing and his time on track was therefore shorter than hoped, the Gresini rider was one of the busiest riders in the field on Wednesday
With 72 laps, he covered by far the most kilometers on his last year’s Induati. The Spaniard concentrated primarily on further improving his feeling with the new bike. He finished 14th in the classification, just under a second behind the best time of the day.
“It was a much better day than yesterday,” summarized Marquez. “We really achieved a lot today. Here in Sepang, 72 laps is a big number. Of course, I can also feel that physically. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.”
“But today it was important to do a lot of laps to understand some things. In the afternoon, I sacrificed the time attack to do a long run because it’s more important for me to understand the bike at the moment.”
“It was ten laps in a row, like a sprint, and it didn’t go badly. I got faster, which shows that I understood the bike better lap by lap. “
Time attack the biggest problem for Marquez
“But of course there are still things to improve in terms of my riding style and the set-up of the bike,” says the Gresini newcomer and admits: “What I’m having more problems with at the moment is the time attack. It’s the area where I feel the biggest difference compared to Honda.”
“With the Ducati, you have to ride in a different way to make the time attack. I’m currently struggling with that. But apart from that, the pace is there,” says Marquez. He attributes the fact that he is still behind in the time attack in particular to the Ducati’s good rear grip, among other things.
“I still have to understand it. The grip on the rear wheel is high, but you have to understand how to use it properly. That’s why I have a good pace with used tires, but I’m not capitalizing enough on fresh tires yet,” he explains.
He can only agree with the analysis of his successor at Honda, Luca Marini, who says that the Honda is the opposite of the Ducati when it comes to working with the rear tire. “I see it the same way. And that’s why I still ride the Ducati like a Honda. That was okay in Valencia, but not here.”
“I have to get rid of everything I’ve become accustomed to in eleven years with a motorcycle, and that’s difficult. It’s easier in the long run because you have more time,” says Marquez.
“But in the time attack you only have two laps and you don’t think, you ride on instinct. And when I do that, I ride like I did with Honda. But that’s not the best way to ride this bike. It’s part of a process. “
Stronger on the brakes than his Ducati colleagues
He still loses out compared to the other Ducati riders, especially at the exit of corners. “This is particularly the case in fast corners, not so much in slow corners. In the fast ones, you need confidence in the bike to push. I still have problems with that,” admits the Ducati newcomer.
On the brakes, however, he already feels comfortable: “It’s true that you have to brake differently on the Ducati. But the fact is that I don’t lose time on the brakes, but rather make up time compared to the other Ducati riders. “
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World champion Francesco Bagnaia was able to study him for a brief moment on the track on Wednesday. “I was on my run and he had just come out of the pits. But during a test it’s difficult to draw conclusions,” explained Marquez.
“Everyone has different numbers of laps on the tires. I was out with a 20-lap old tire testing a set-up. So I only followed him for one lap and he also followed me for one lap. It was interesting. But I know how Pecco rides the Ducati because I followed him many times last year. (laughs)”
Back then, Marquez was repeatedly criticized because he often stuck to the rear wheel of a Ducati with the inferior Honda in qualifying in order to improve his lap time
Marquez: “I’m not myself on the bike yet “
In the meantime, the Spaniard himself is sitting on the world champion motorcycle that he used to chase frequently. But he still has to make it his bike: “I’m using a basic set-up from the other Ducati riders because I don’t want to get bogged down.”
“I started with that yesterday and it worked better today. Of course, we are trying out a few things. My technicians are trying to understand my riding style and adapt the bike accordingly. Today we changed the position again a bit. We also played with the position of the handlebars.”
“I feel better step by step and can play with my body a bit more. But I’m still stiff on the bike. I’m still not me. I’m not really riding smoothly yet, I can’t ride very tight lines.”
“We will continue to work on this tomorrow and also try to understand how we can make more profit from new tires in the time attack,” announced Marquez.
