Marc Márquez found himself relegated to the first qualifying session for the first time this MotoGP season. The Gresini rider couldn’t avoid a crash in the French MotoGP practice session and ended up only in 13th place, struggling with the handling of the Ducati.
These difficulties were openly acknowledged by the Spaniard, stating: ‘It was the first Friday that was difficult. The other Fridays were quite easy, the pace was good, it was easy to be on the Q2. But it’s true that is the first Friday that we struggle more and it can happen. So, now is time to react and try to understand what we did, where I struggled the most on my riding style and try to improve for tomorrow’.
According to Márquez, it was the first crash due to over-riding since he joined Ducati: ‘Today was the first crash due to override. You can even see in the images: today I was fighting against the bike. I was not smooth enough, I was not clean on the lines. And on that crash I leaned too much. I was struggling to keep the lines and then I leaned too much. So we need to understand well and try to understand the way to improve for tomorrow’.
The rear is identified as the area causing complications, as the rider mentioned: ‘I’m struggling because I’m pushing too much on the front because I don’t feel the rear. So we need to understand how to feel better the rear. Especially with this bike you need to take all the potential from the rear, if not you will struggle. And this is what happened today’.
In recent days, there have been more rumors about Márquez’s future, but he denied that this is a justification for the difficulties of this Friday: ‘I’m already 30 years old, and 14 years in MotoGP, so I don’t feel that pressure. The first Friday that we struggle just arrived and it can happen. So now is time to react, but I don’t expect to struggle here in Le Mans. But it can be, so now we need to understand where we are losing and what we need to do’.