Marc Marquez gets confidence boost with home podium

Marc Marquez admitted he was close to crashing numerous times during yesterday’s Catalunya MotoGP clash that saw the Repsol Honda rider return to the podium in third position.

The Spaniard might have suffered his first race crash in Mugello recently, but he was not adopting a more cautious approach in front of a massive home crowd of over 91,000 fans at the Montmelo track.

Marquez finished the 25-lap race only 1.826s behind race winner Jorge Lorenzo and he was less than a tenth behind HRC teammate and world championship leader Dani Pedrosa.

Attempting to snatch second from Pedrosa at Turn 4 with two laps remaining, the 20-year-old almost crashed out after locking the front tyre of his RC213V as he almost tagged the back of Pedrosa’s bike.

Marquez said he can’t afford to adopt a risk-free strategy in races to collect precious world championship points because the only way he can improve and develop is to be racing dominant duo Lorenzo and Pedrosa.

He told MCN: “If I had crashed everybody would say a second crash in two races but I am learning many things when I am racing with Jorge and Dani. So for me it is more important to push and be at 100% and be with them.

“I could finish the race back in fifth or sixth place but I would not learn so much. I take that risk and in Mugello I crashed because I was too tired and I relaxed too much but here I was concentrated and pushing the entire race and that was the key thing.”

Marquez said he would have got a greater understanding of his potential for 2013 after racing at Mugello and Catalunya, which are two of the longest, fastest and most technical on the calendar.

Asked what he had taken from those races he said: “In Mugello it was much better than I expected, even with the crash but here I understand that it is so difficult because this was the first really hot race with very little grip. 

“I struggled all weekend to find the best set-up and riding style but in the end I finished on the podium, so from this I take a lot of confidence.”

See the June 19 issue of MCN for eight pages of coverage from the Catalunya MotoGP round.