Marc Marquez confesses that his good Americas Grand Prix practice pace surprised him because he believes he is “not riding well” on the Honda MotoGP bike.
The six-time MotoGP world champion has won in Austin every year until 2019 (when he collapsed while leading convincingly) and holds the qualifying and race lap records, having previously been dominant in terms of performance at the track.
Despite its anticlockwise orientation, the physical character of the Circuit of the Americas – exacerbated by the bumps – is making life difficult for Marquez and his recuperating right shoulder. As a result, he says he isn’t feeling well on the bike, but he still managed to win both of Friday’s sessions.
When questioned by Motorsport.com if he was feeling much closer to his physical peak, he said, “Yeah, but honestly the feeling on the bike was not so good.”
“But then when I stopped in the box I saw I was in front, but if I understand my feeling on the bike I say ‘wow, I’m not riding well’.
“But then I stopped in the box and I saw I was in the top, it’s strange.
It’s true that I’m happy because of the result, but not because of the performance and the feeling.
“The feeling is not the best one, it’s true that one of my strong points was sector one in the past. Now I’m losing a lot there, especially in Turns 3, 4, 5. I cannot change direction – I’m in delay for many laps.
“But the lap time arrived, so I hope tomorrow it rains a little bit more in some practices because like this I will survive better during all the weekend.”
Marquez also says he’s concerned about his physical condition for Sunday’s 20-lap race since it’s a tough one “even if you are fit”.
“It’s true that this track is physical, and even if you are fit in this race track it’s difficult to finish the race in a good way,” he added. “But we will see. It’s true that also the back straight helps a lot, you can relax a bit because they resurfaced there and it’s not bumpy and then you can relax a bit there.
“But it’s a physical race track, so let’s see tomorrow, try to keep the same level, try to improve because the others will improve.”
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