Marc Marquez was the top Honda rider on Friday in Catalunya, but with all four RCVs at the bottom of the timesheets the factory’s MotoGP woes were exposed for all to see.
Competing in front of his home fans, it was perhaps the biggest test so far of Marquez’s ‘new approach’, since the Sachsenring, of trying not to override the bike and risk further injuries.
“It was a difficult day, as we see, the last four bikes are from our [factory],” Marquez said.
How does he deal with it?
“You just try to sit in the garage, don’t look at the results… don’t check the position,” Marquez said. “This is the only way to ride now and to not have a big frustration.
“It’s what I’m doing and, personally speaking, my feeling on the bike was good. I was able to play with the bike and it’s there where tomorrow I will keep going.
“But the result will be more or less the same.”
While Yamaha riders, directly ahead of the Hondas, battled rear traction, Marquez explained that the Honda is specifically suffering in the long corners.
“More than the grip of the track it’s the layout,” he said. “Because the layout is all long corners and long corners is where we lose.
“If we can make the stop and go. If we can make a quick pick up, there it’s acceptable. You can manage a bit the problems and you can brake later.
“But when it’s long corner like in sector 2, we are losing 0.6 only in three corners.
“Those corners are not so difficult for the rider, it’s just go wide, keep the gas and just wait until you have the grip. But we are losing only 0.6 in three corners.
“The rest of the circuit we are losing acceptable things. But it’s there where we expected to suffer and we are suffering. And even for my riding style it’s not the best track, so it’s multiplied.
“I’m playing with the bike and I feel the bike. But the performance is not there and the result is not there. The lap time never arrives, so it’s is difficult.
“We need to keep working, for tomorrow the situation will not change, but definitely we need to keep going because still remain many races before 2024.
“But it’s true that in Misano we will try the new bike [at the test] so we will see if it’s an extra boost for the future.”
Marquez suffered his 17th fall of the year in the morning, once again a consequence of switching between the two Honda aero packages.
“I did the same mistake as Austria [after] changing the aerodynamic,” he said. “It’s a big change and it’s changing a lot on riding style. And exactly as in Austria, I jump to the big one again and on that change of direction between 4 and 5 I was too slow – because you need to force more the bike – and then went wide. I was not pushing a lot. But I take a bump and I lose the front.
“I was the only Honda to try the [aero] back-to-back. But it’s important to do. We believe in our garage, the team that it is important to do, but in the afternoon I concentrated only with the big one and was much easier for me.”
Keyword: MotoGP Catalunya: Marc Marquez 19th: “I don't look at the results" to avoid "a big frustration"