Marquez 'surprised' by fast times on day two

Marc Marquez has said that he has been ‘surprised’ by the fast times being set at Sepang, not only by himself but by other riders. The reigning champion says that excellent track conditions has meant that times have tumbled, although he’s not sure it’s enough to let him match Casey Stoner’s outright lap record.

“If you want to do a 59.6 you must attack at 10am when the track is faster but this is not the target tomorrow.”

The Spaniard has instead concentrated on the geometry and stability of his RCV214 Honda, working to find a good setup on an all-new chassis.

“I tried a new chassis which was an improvement in some points but in other points I didn’t like it, it was a little nervous. But I am happy because we got a lot of information for Honda. We also tried some geometry changes to improve braking stability, but we are still losing a little on corner exit.”

“Especially in the fast corners is where the bike felt more nervous and over the bumps it was also too nervous and I didn’t like it because the fast corners is where you can make more time and you must feel secure to do this. “

He, along with all the top riders, have also been testing the new harder compound tyre available to the factory bikes for the first time this season, but says that there’s been no real gains so far.

“I tested the soft and hard tyre and the positive point is that we can use the new rear hard tyre because last year we couldn’t do that, only the soft. Both the soft and hard felt quite similar, both are consistent. I did about 25 laps on all the tyres.”