It was a clearly emotional Marc Marquez at the end of the quick interview at parc ferne that who appeared on camera at the end of the Sprint race in Valencia. The rider, who has his last race with Honda tomorrow, considered the day practically perfect.
Speaking to the press on site, the Repsol Honda Team rider spoke about his day and outlined his objectives for tomorrow: ‘An almost perfect Saturday, it would have been perfect if I started from the second row, which is what I was looking for in qualifying and I didn’t manage it. With the new rubber I’m struggling, but in terms of pace I’ve got this weekend. Well, we’ll see tomorrow, but it’s the best way to say goodbye to the team, even if it’s in the Sprint race, but I’ve already given them a podium this weekend. We’ll see if we can have a realistic goal tomorrow, yesterday I said podium, today in ninth the realistic goal is top five’.
Looking ahead to the final race with Honda, the rider pointed to the tyre choices, and revealed a conversation he had with Jorge Martin: ‘He told me that tomorrow he’s going to race with an ‘S’ [soft], so he’s lucky. These things happen, the truth is that there was a bit of chaos at Turns 4, 5 with [Brad Binder and Maverick] Viñales and then I smelt blood and went into Turn 6 as usual’.
And he continued, talking about the fiercest battle with Martin in the race: ‘He defended himself very well, that’s when I cut the throttle but I was already coming with the inertia and fortunately it was just a “rub”. If I’d kept my normal speed, it would have been a big touch and one or two of us would have crashed. That’s why I squeezed my legs quite hard – I’m not going to say my arse – but my legs against the tank to prevent the action from getting any worse’.
