COTA was Marc Marquez's hunting ground from 2013 to 2019 (and 2021) and this year we arrived at the Grand Prix of the Americas with rather high expectations on the Catalan, who became competitive again thanks to Ducati. For a moment the dream of triumph existed on Sunday in Austin, but it vanished in the gravel of Turn 11, when the Gresini standard bearer slipped while he was leading the race.
Marc's was a beautiful dream, abruptly interrupted well before the checkered flag. The cause is attributable to the front brake. The eight-time world champion revealed that he had suffered the problem from the start of the race, which is why he decided to take the lead to understand if it was due to the traffic. However, that wasn't the case: “It hurts, because today there was speed and desire. When I make a mistake I say it, but today I had problems with the front brake and the fall was caused by this.”
Marquez goes into detail about the problem: “Throughout the race I thought about the front brakes, because my sensations changed with each braking. These problems are normal in a new project. We had a problem and now we need to find the answer. We know from the data that there was a problem. I stepped on the brakes and nothing happened, I stepped on them again and they didn't respond.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo credit: Rob Gray / Polarity Photo
“The important thing is that I crashed while I was in the lead”, continues the Gresini standard bearer, looking at the positive side of this bitter Sunday. “This year I had to know whether I was competitive or not. It was a good race, as long as the brakes lasted I'm more frustrated than angry.”
The progress made, however, is enormous. Marc Marquez is only in his third race with the Ducati, after eleven years on the same bike, the completely different Honda. Little by little, the Spaniard is also getting to know the whole team and this is a good start: “These problems with the brakes are due to the youth of the relationship. I'm getting to know the team, we're getting to know each other. The most important thing is that this problem can be solved.”
Apart from the brakes, the tire is crucial in the current MotoGP and Marc Marquez, initially convinced of one direction, has conformed to all the other Ducati riders: “My choice on the rear was designed for the podium, not for the victory, I thought more to the medium. But then I only saw two riders with the medium and all the Ducatis with the soft. So I put the soft because I had more speed than them. So, for this reason, the choice was made for the podium, not for victory”.
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