Marc Marquez says it is “impossible” to target a “podium or victory” from 14th on the grid after struggling for speed in qualifying for the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Marquez – alongside his fellow Honda pilots – have struggled to extract speed from Honda’s new RC213-V following a switch by MotoGP to a harder construction rear tyre for the Indonesian event following concerns that the extreme heat and complex layout could cause the normal rubber to not survive the race distance.
With Marquez’s factory Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro having led the pre-season test at the recently completed Mandalika International Circuit, the Japanese brand was hopeful of a strong showing at the venue following an impressive first outing of the year in Qatar, in which Espargaro completed the rostrum in third while Marquez bagged fifth.
Espargaro led the way in a damp opening practice session on Friday, though this would become Honda’s high point across the opening two days of the event with Marquez its highest qualifier in 15th – which became 14th following a penalty for Franco Morbidelli for a practice start infringement in FP3 – following a pair of crashes in Q1, Espargaro just behind in 15th after struggling to get a lap together.
Marquez cut a frustrated figure following qualifying after ruing the “unexpected problems” felt by all of Honda’s entrants following a competitive showing at the track in pre-season testing.
“I’m more or less OK (after two crashes) but I’m really not happy about today, unexpected problems and all the (Honda) riders were struggling a lot,” said Marquez.
“Of course if you’re struggling and you’re in Q1 you need to try, I tried but I’m really struggling for some reason and if I push harder I crash.
“I crashed with the second tyre so I took the other bike and then crashed again so it’s been a disastrous day, although the good thing was that we at least started 15th on the clean track (side) but now I’ve been told (Franco) Morbidelli has a penalty and now he will start there, so we will be 14th on the dirty side which is another problem.
“I will try and finish the race in a good way and try to get through this weekend.
“When I say unexpected problems it’s because in the test (Mandalika pre-season) we were riding very good, very smooth and nice but here since we’ve had the new rear tyre we are struggling a lot, but it’s the same for everyone so we need to be smart and find a way to improve.
“The warm-up will be very important to try and understand the way to ride in a good way, but starting towards the back of the grid it will be impossible to think about a podium or victory, we just need to finish the race.”
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