Jerez race winner Marc Marquez says he is still “missing something” with the front end of his Honda, despite taking dominant back-to-back MotoGP victories in Austin and in Spain.
Marquez eased to a six-second win last time out at the Circuit of the Americas, and had a five-second advantage before backing off in the closing stages of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
Despite his dominant form, and the improvements made by Honda with the 2018-spec RC213V, Marquez feels he is still lacking with the front end of the bike, citing his three crashes in practice through the course of the weekend as proof.
He also remains wary of the Ducati threat, despite main title rival Andrea Dovizioso crashing out in an incident involving Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa and going 24 points down on Marquez in the standings.
“It's important to start in Europe in the right way,” said Marquez.
“But we see, I struggle a little bit. I was so comfortable, but we are missing something in the front and I want to try something tomorrow [in the test] because I crashed three times.
“Still I'm missing something and I want to understand well. Apart from that, you see the championship, only 12 points between me and Johann [Zarco].
“Of course, the other riders today, with the crash I increased a lot the advantage [in the championship] and this is good for us.
“But I already saidbefore Qatar, Johann this year will be strong, Suzuki will be on the podium, so more or less the prediction was there.
“I will say that the Ducatis will be strong because they were close in this circuit, so they will be strong in the other parts of the championship.”
More time needed with the carbon fibre swingarm
Marquez used the carbon fibre swingarm Honda tested throughout the winter and ran in Texas, but is still unsure how much of a benefit in laptime it gives, and will compare it with the standard aluminum version in Monday's post-race test.
“We don't know exactly [how big a benefit it is],” he added.
“Still we cannot say one tenth, two tenths. I think it's more about feeling on the bike. I mean it's a little bit more sensitive, you change a little bit your riding style and the bike feels immediately [different], and this is something if you are smart to understand how to ride, then you will be faster.
“But if you are riding in the same way, then you [feel] the same. So it looks like it's the way [forward] and we are trying.
“We raced it in Austin and here, and tomorrow I will try again the aluminum [version] because it's important for [us to run] back-to-back [tests].
“It's the first prototype, the first time Honda is working with carbon fibre and it looks like it's a good way.”
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