“This is one of the worst”: Marc Marquez names 3-4 tracks where “my special style works less”

For the second time in as many MotoGP events, Marc Marquez failed to make the top ten cut on Friday afternoon and will need to fight through the ‘nightmare’ Qualifying 1 session on Saturday.

The difference between Le Mans and day one of his home Catalunya round was that Marquez and his team had tried a new set-up in France and reverted to their normal ‘base’ for day two.

But the low grip Barcelona circuit is proving more complicated, with the base that has served them well elsewhere - including runner-up finishes in three of the last four races - not proving as effective.

But Marquez said it wasn’t a surprise and that Montmelo is one of ‘3 or 4’ tracks where he expects to struggle this season.

“We tried to avoid it, of course, but we expected that we will struggle here in Barcelona,” said Marquez, who dropped from second in FP1 to 12th, directly behind brother and team-mate Alex, in the afternoon.

“We struggled less than we expected for race pace with the medium tyre, but on the time attack we missed Qualifying 2 just for one tenth. So tomorrow we will be in the worst practice, the nightmare practice of the weekend, which is Qualifying 1.”

Quizzed on where exactly he is struggling, the Gresini Ducati rider said that his usual braking strength is currently a weakness.

“Basically, I'm struggling a bit on that [corner] entry part,” explained the eight-time world champion. “It’s where still I don't feel 100% comfortable. One of my strong points is the brake point and here it’s one of my weak points. So we need to understand well the bike balance.

“Of course, my style is special, and works in most of the tracks,” he added. “But for example at 3-4 tracks in the calendar, it is working less. The good thing is that it's only 3-4 tracks out of 20!

“We need to work on both the bike and my style for tomorrow. This morning, I went out and felt super good from the start. But this afternoon, for some reason, since the first run, I feel not so good.

“It’s different to Friday in Le Mans because then we knew where the problem was. Today we were riding with our base, so we need to understand what the problem is.”

As of Friday evening, Marquez said he doesn’t have the pace for the podium in Saturday’s Sprint.

“A lot will depend on the qualifying practice, as always. But if we can have a good qualifying and start on the third row for example, our potential is 5th-6th-7th. At the moment. And not better.

“But it's a good result here in Montmelo because it looks like KTM and Aprilia are working better here.

“This is a different kind of race track and you need to find the best balance for all the tracks on the calendar. So here we are struggling more than the other tracks, but still, we are not far.”

So which are the other tracks where Marquez expects to struggle?

“Qatar, Montmelo, and I will say Malaysia and Indonesia a little bit, but it depends…  With this bike it’s changing, so let's see," he replied.

“But this one I can say is one of the worst.”

Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia was the only Ducati rider in the top five on Friday, with Alex Marquez the top GP23 in eleventh.

Marquez won at Catalunya in 2014 and 2019, as a Repsol Honda rider.