Marquez explains chassis switch

Honda’s decision to revert back to the 2014 chassis for this weekend’s Dutch TT offered a glimpse into their struggles this year but Marc Marquez is hoping that it will be the spark that ignites his season. The current chassis is fast, as shown by the highlights of Marquez’ season, however the difficulty of being consistent with the bike has been shown by his three non-scores of this year.

The move to the old frame began at the post Catalan test but with rain interuptting proceedings the team weren’t able to get a diffinitive answer on how big a step they can make with a more confidence inspiring bike.

“We know the weather can be unstable here but I tried [the 2014 chassis] in Montmelo.” said Marquez. “It was good and I will use here, the feeling  was more-or-less what I had last year. I was able to do more mistakes and less risk. With this year’s chassis we are able to be really fast over one lap, but during the race it is so difficult to be consistent and just one small mistake and you crash. I think we are getting closer to the solution – to the confidence and the feeling of what I had last year.

“But it is not a case of finding one solution to put on or off and everything will work. I think we need to continue in this way because every race I feel better. In Mugello and Montmelo we worked hard and now we have a base, but still we need to work because both Yamaha riders are strong. It is not only their bike – they have good confidence and are pushing a lot. We know it will be difficult to beat them here, but we will try to be closer and even closer again in Germany.”