In his first outing on a MotoGP bike in three months, Marc Marquez goes down twice in Sepang – He doesn’t yet understand the new bike
For the first time since the 2021 Emilia-Rogmana Grand Prix, Marc Marquez returned to his MotoGP Honda this Saturday at Sepang. This is an all-new bike for the 2022 season, with the regular riders familiarising themselves with it for the first time at the winter test in Malaysia.
“It’s true that it’s a different bike,” said Marquez after 62 laps with the RC213V. He finished the first of two days of testing in eighth place with a personal best of 1’59.287. His gap to the day’s best time: 0.916 seconds.
“I also had last year’s bike to test today and I immediately understood that the speed or the lap is easier to achieve with the new bike,” the Spaniard draws a direct comparison with last year’s model. “But that created another problem. What I need to learn and understand is the feeling for the front. That has changed a lot. ”
Marquez crashes twice on first day of testing
That’s why Marquez’s first day of testing didn’t go entirely smoothly. The 28-year-old crashed twice: once in the first hour at turn 9, then in the last half hour at turn 15. Both times they were harmless slips and he remained unhurt.
“One mistake was completely mine,” Marquez explained. “And one time I crashed and I still don’t quite understand why, because I didn’t do anything strange. ”
“All these things and the long time I didn’t ride the Grand Prix bike meant that I still don’t fully understand how to ride this bike. The lap time came, but I don’t know why,” he continues.
Riding style on corner entry causes problems
One thing is clear to Marquez, though: he has to adapt his riding style, especially at the entrance to the corner. Because pushing the front end the way he did in the past doesn’t work anymore: “At the moment, with this new bike, I have to cut back on that part. When I tried to do that today, I crashed. ”
Feliz de volver a sentir esta sensación😁
Happy to feel this sensation again!🎥 @MotoGP#SepangTest #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/16EzrJIWYr
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) February 5, 2022
Talking about the rear wheel traction that many Honda riders complained about last season, the Spaniard sees limited progress. “Today we tried two different set-ups with the same bike: With one there was this problem, with the other not. But with one set-up I won in some points, with the other I didn’t,” he said.
Here it just needs more laps to understand which set-up is the right one. In general, Marquez admits that he has not been able to contribute much to Honda’s development work on his MotoGP return in Sepang.
After long break: Marquez needs kilometres
“I haven’t ridden a MotoGP bike for a long time and especially not much this winter. I’ve been riding the last two weeks, but not regularly,” he insists.
“The speed is there, but the feeling to try things, the feeling for the limit, the feeling for the lines – you lose all these things and you get them by reeling off laps. So I said to my team, ‘Forget the parts, I need laps!’ We tested a few things, but not much. ”
Due to an eye injury, Marquez had to end the 2021 season early and also had to skip the test in Jerez. His vision has since been restored, but the fractured upper right arm he suffered in early 2020 remains a problem.
Injury update: Upper arm not at full strength
“I feel better, but you can’t replicate the muscles you use here on the bike in the gym. But we are training hard. Our goal is to reach a good level throughout the year. The problem is: when the inflammation comes, the pain increases and the performance decreases. ”
Honda teammate Pol Espargaro came through the first day of testing without a crash, finishing ninth in the standings just behind Marquez. Only 66 thousandths separated the two, with Espargaro refraining from a time attack on soft tyres.
“With the new bike and medium tyres I was fourth most of the day,” he records. “Towards the end, many put on the soft tyre and pushed again. That’s what we’ll try to do tomorrow, because that one fast lap is very important these days to end up way up front on the grid. ”
Espargaro relies on teamwork for development
The Spaniard is already predicting that qualifying is likely to be tough for Honda in 2022 as well. “There are plenty of Ducatis in the field. They are very strong, as we saw today with (Enea) Bastianini, on a fast lap.” The Gresini Ducati rider finished a strong fourth on Saturday.
Espargaro will then look to work on that one fast lap on Sunday and at the second MotoGP test at Mandalika. Saturday was all about testing for him. “Everything is new with this project. So it will take time. But the start has been made,” the 30-year-old sums up with satisfaction.
“Honda has not only brought two 2022 bikes for the two factory riders, the satellite riders are also using the new model. That is very important. We understood last year that we need to work together as a team. This will help us to build this project together.”
“Marc, Alex (Marquez) and Taka (Nakagami) are super talented riders – together we will build a solid bike for the start of the season in these five days of testing, the first of which is done. I think we did a good job today. “
