Seventh in the Sprint race at Motegi, Marc Marquez was up to fifth place but ended up giving up the position towards the end and much of this was due to problems with tyre wear that forced the rider to slow down in the face of the dangers that lay ahead.
The Repsol Honda Team rider explained how the race went for him: ‘I was super competitive for the first four laps but then I started to feel wear on the tyres and then I started to feel the normal spin that I’ve had all weekend and then we started to lose traction and the risk in braking was too much and I decided to stay further back to finish the Sprint race because in the first four or five laps the risk was tremendous and it was like qualifying for me. Qualifying for four laps is ok, but for 12 laps it’s impossible’.
Asked if that feeling could be better in the long race, the spaniard replied bluntly: ‘No. If you look at the trend of the race, at the start I was very strong but then towards the end I started to get slower and slower and tomorrow the trend will be the same’.
And this sunday Marquez won’t be neglecting a small test: ‘Tomorrow I’ll test the medium rear tyre to try and understand why there was so much wear towards the end of the Sprint race’.