Marc Márquez continues without losing his smile despite the fact that the results of the preseason are far from his best wishes. The man from Repsol Honda finished the Portimao test 14th, 0.810 behind the lead held by Francesco Bagnaia, and he strives not to do “bad blood”, as he himself says, to face the 2023 season with optimism that will start the end weekdays from March 24 to 26.
-How has the end of the preseason gone?
-Today has been one of the preseason days that I have found myself with the best feelings, because we have already put in what we wanted during the four days between the Sepang test and yesterday here in Portimao. And we have focused more on polishing details, on working at the driving level. Try to get a little more. I think we’ve done a full day, we’ve made progress and I’m happy, and it’s the day I’ve felt better with what we have. When you feel good you can do a long run of 12 laps, already simulating a sprint race like the one that will take place on Saturday to get into rhythm. And it hasn’t been entirely bad, I think it has been quite good, although far from the four or five in front. So we have made the most of it.
-Have you been able to be constant in that simulation?
-Yes, I have been constant, I have been able to understand how to go fast and how not; if he could push more or not and where to make the time. But it is true, that one thing is to understand what you need, the other is that they are putting a few tenths per lap. That’s where you don’t have to stress, focus on yours, get your rhythm and we’ll see what we find on the race weekend.
-What do you miss on this bike?
-It is a similar bike to the one in Valencia, with a slightly different chassis, but the concept is basically the same as last year. With that we will know that we will have good and worse circuits, and when we have four or five races we will see where we are. After Jerez there is another test and we will see if we can take another step there.
-In Valencia he said that they had to take two steps, and here they have a similar motorcycle…
-Yes, except the chassis is the same. But today I have focused more on testing things with the team. I had worked a lot these days testing many things and I asked the Japanese engineers what we needed one day for me, for the team, for Santi and to understand little things. And today we have taken several steps just fine-tuning.
-Alberto Puig has said that they are not where they want to be…
-Obviously not. The Hondas are 12th, 13th and 14th. We’re not where we want to be, we’re far off the pace, but now you don’t gain anything by doing bad blood. You have to try to get the most out of the situation you have and anything can happen. Obviously if you go like Bagnaia it is easier for good things to happen, but we start the season with enthusiasm and desire.
-Is the top 5 possible in the first GP of the year?
-If tomorrow were the race we would be from five to ten, but we will see the weekend of a Grand Prix, because it is very different from a test, where there is less rubber, the track slips more… How many times have you seen pilots in preseason who are very fast and then not. And backwards. Logically if you go fast these days you have a better chance of being in front.