Marc Marquez says his changed riding style for Saturday's MotoGP action from Malaysia came as a result of studying Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales following a tough Friday.
Marquez qualified on pole after a dominant qualifying, but was later handed a six-place grid penalty for impeding Andrea Iannone in the latter stages of Q2 and will start from seventh instead.
The Spaniard finished Friday's running second overall and just 0.093 seconds off the pace, but admitted he made too many mistakes across both sessions and felt Ducati were at “another level” in terms of race pace.
Realising he had to change his riding style as much as the bike had to be altered, Marquez says he tried to “analyse” what Ducati's Dovizioso and Vinales on the Yamaha were doing differently and find a “compromise” between both styles.
He believes this “together with the set-up” allowed him to improve his race pace significantly enough to not be “ruled out for the victory” on Sundauy.
“We check the pace on the dry: we cannot be ruled out of the victory, we are not far from the race pace of the best guys,” Marquez said prior to being awarded his penalty.
“On Friday we were very far. So we understand on Friday afternoon if I want to be there, it's not only the bike [that has to change], I also have to change my riding style.
“So then we speak a little bit with Alberto [Puig, team boss], Emelio [Alzemora, manager] and also with the team, try to analyse.
“We check, we did a few changes on the bike and we go out in the morning and I already change my riding style, change the set-up and I feel straight away much better.
“So I tried to keep that style, that set-up. We improve a few things, but we were able to be much more consistent.”
He added: “I tried to check the video, tried to analyse to see what Dovi was doing – he was the faster one – what Vinales was doing.
“Two different riding styles, so I tried to find the best compromise. Of course, I will not say what I changed, but I change a few things.
“Already I understand yesterday I was not riding in a good way, but together with the set-up I am able to ride like I want.
“So sometimes you know you're not in a good line, but you are not able to do it with that set-up. So I have the set-up, I can follow the line that I want and it makes life easier, especially for the race pace.
“For one lap it's not a big difference, but for the race pace yes.”
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