Marc Marquez seeks confidence with Honda set-up tweaks

Marc Marquez says he is still lacking in confidence to push immediately after his Repsol Honda squad has sent him out with revised settings on the factory RC213V machine.

The Spaniard continued his impressive transition from the Moto2 category in Sepang this week when he logged the third best time overall to finish just 0.081s behind HRC teammate Dani Pedrosa in second and 0.361s behind off Jorge Lorenzo’s outright best lap of 2.00.282.

Marquez crashed three times during the rain-hit test, including twice on the final day when he clipped a white line at Turn 12 before tumbling later at Turn 9 on a dry surface.
One key area he’s been working on has been to improve his understanding  the impact set-up changes have on his RC213V.

He said: “I need to improve many things and to understand more quickly when we change something on the bike. In Moto2 when we changed something immediately from the first lap I knew the direction of the bike and what was the problem. Now when I try something I am not decided and we need to improve in that part. I also need to be more constant with used tyres and get more feeling in the entry of the corner.”

Marquez walked away unhurt from all three crashes and admitted his spill in the wet on the final morning was entirely his own fault.

He had been getting used to Bridgestone’s rain tyres for the first time when he crashed after clipping a damp white line at the fast Turn 12.

He told MCN: “That was completely my mistake. I got into the corner and I touched the white line and I didn’t think it was going to happen. I lost the front but I know why but it was important to try the bike in the rain conditions and before that I had a very good feeling. The most important thing is that I know why I crashed and it was my fault.”

For more from Marquez in nine pages of extensive coverage from the Sepang MotoGP test, see the March 6 issue of Motor Cycle News.