Marquez 'far from potential' of new electronics

Marc Marquez spent the majority of the second day of testing at Valencia working on 2016 MotoGP electronics, needs to find base setting before assessing new engine.

Neil Morrison

11 Nov 2015

Marquez 'far from potential' of new electronics

Marc Marquez set the fastest time of the two-day post-season test in Valencia but stated he and Honda are still "far from the potential" of the 2016 electronics package.

Fresh from finishing second in the season finale, Marquez was three tenths of a second fastesr than the best 2015 race time.

Yet the 22-year old was far from happy with the electronics' performance, and still couldn't pass judgement on the new Honda engine.

"The thing is today we ride only with the Magneti Marelli software and we are far from a base. There are things we must improve. For the lap time the Michelin tyres are easier to make a faster lap time than Bridgestone.

"For that reason the times are really close. We play with many things, work a lot and the problem with the electronics is that you make five laps and then you stay half an hour or one hour in the box trying to fix. We need time to try and understand it well.

"At the moment I'm not enjoying it a lot. The thing is my bike didn't spin. It's just moving and cutting and I think we are far from the potential of these electronics. At the moment I still didn't understand well. I'm riding fast and pushing but I want to understand it better for the slides and all these things.

"Not much but the thing is with the Michelins you need to be careful. Just change a little bit the temperature and in the end there were many crashes, it was locking a lot. In the midday the feeling was different, the confidence was good. But everybody was pushing and locking the front.

"We must understand well and it's normal after many years with one tyres that the bikes are in that direction. I only work with the electronics. I was riding with the same set-up like Sunday. If we fix the set-up it will be better but we didn't spend time on this."

Marquez stated he doesn't feel a need to alter his riding style dramatically and instead needs to come to terms with the feel of the Michelin rubber.

"The thing is with the Michelins you need to be careful. Just change a little bit the temperature and in the end there were many crashes, it was locking a lot. In the midday the feeling was different, the confidence was good. But everybody was pushing and locking the front.

"[With the electronics the most important area] For me at the moment is corner exit. Mid corner to exit corner is where we must understand more because sometimes I feel some cuts that I don't understand. Sometimes it was a little better.

"It looks more critical, you must try to play with the gas but when you play you are slow. Still we didn't understand but it's normal. Everything is new, the engineers are working a lot and with the electronics you need a lot of time so you can adjust corner by corner. Yesterday we just tried at the end and then it's difficult."

Marquez suffered his second crash in as many days on Wednesday afternoon, this one coming as he braked for the final turn. It was he said, similar in style to his fall when testing the French rubber in Mugello in June.

"It wasn't similar. It was exactly the same as I had in Mugello at the Michelin test. When it was not completely straight with some banking with the front suddenly pass a bump and lock the front.

"It's this where I'm struggling more to understand where the limit is. With Bridgestone I was able to brake really deep. It's there where I'm struggling more. Yesterday with the crash was completely different.

"Of course it's better to be like Dani who didn't crash with the Michelin tyres. You know I didn't try to push 100 percent. I think many riders didn't push. If you're not really concentrated or focused it's really easy to lose the front. It's better to understand now than during the season."