Marc Marquez “fast throughout the day" at Jerez MotoGP test
Marc Marquez bounces back from Spanish GP crash to top both sessions at Jerez MotoGP test.
Marc Marquez responded to his Spanish Grand Prix disappointment by setting the pace in Monday’s Jerez MotoGP test.
A day after his second race crash of the season, the factory Ducati star was fastest in both sessions at the official test.
“The good thing is that the test was straight after [Sunday's mistake]," Marquez said. "I could confirm the good feelings from the weekend, and we were fast throughout the day.”
Now sitting just one point behind younger brother and Spanish GP winner Alex Marquez in the world championship standings, Marc focused Monday’s work on small refinements, including front-end feeling, electronics, and Michelin tyre work.
“We had a long plan with many, many things. Not very big new items, but always small details," he explained. "Some of them just retrying from the last test in Thailand. But the feeling was good throughout the day."
Among the key areas was revisiting some electronic settings from the pre-season, which Marquez said had not been properly evaluated due to the emphasis on chosing between the GP24 and GP25 ‘concept’.
“We tried some Michelin tyres. We tried the new electronic [software], that I don't know which race [MotoGP] will introduce. And we re-tried some electronic things that we had in the pre-season, but with [deciding] the concept of GP25-24 we couldn't try well. So we retried here and some of them were positive.”
Despite the heavy workload, Marquez confirmed he remained on Ducati’s latest chassis, with no return to an older frame. “No, we are riding with the same one, the same concept,” he said.
Asked whether he used the opportunity to ride behind team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, after crashing in the pack during Sunday's race, Marquez replied: “Just one lap. In that run, Pecco was riding in 39s and I was coming on 37s. So I caught him but it was not in the plan.”
Marquez was the only rider in the 1m 35s at the test, with KTM’s Maverick Vinales 0.361s behind in second and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in third (0.477s).
The next round takes place at Le Mans in two weeks.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
