Marc Marquez admits he needs to rebuild lost confidence in this weekend’s Australian MotoGP round after crashing out of both races in Indonesia.
The outgoing Repsol Honda rider took a tumble on the opening lap of the Sprint at Mandalika’s Turn 11, then went down at Turn 13 on Lap 6 of the Sunday Race.
Until then, Marquez had been on something of an upswing.
After failing to finish a grand prix Race in any of the first 10 rounds due to a combination of crashes and injury-enforced absences, he had managed to see a chequered flag for five Sundays in a row.
That included a first grand prix podium of the campaign at Motegi, on the weekend prior to the Indonesia event, but now the six-time MotoGP champion is back to square one with his RC213V package having struggled to comprehend his latest spill.
“It’s true that [in] Indonesia, we started the weekend in a very good way,” he recalled.
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“I think it was coming from the motivation, but also because on Friday, the limit was the grip of the track, then the track starts to improve during the weekend and then, as we see, we started to suffer more than usual.
“It’s true that the grid position was eighth place but the rhythm was not there, we were far… I mean, the other three Hondas were last.
“Then in the Sprint race, I crashed already in the first lap.
“Then in the main race, I was more calm but, even like this, I crashed again.
“This one, in the main race, took out a lot of confidence because it was the one that I don’t understand; in the Sprint race, I understand.
“But it’s normal. I mean, after the summer break, I was coming in a different mentality, and then I started to rebuild the confidence.
“Then Misano, India, and Motegi was a good race, good weekend.
“Then now, again we step back, and we will try to come back.”
Between injury and an uncompetitive Honda, the future Gresini Racing rider has struggled for multiple seasons now, although Phillip Island was a bright spot last year when he finished less than two tenths of a second away from victory in a thrilling contest.
However, even Marquez’s happy hunting grounds have tended not to be so this year, and hence there are no great expectations Down Under.
“This year, it’s difficult to understand if our level will be good or not,” admitted the Spaniard.
“I mean, some race tracks that we don’t expect to be fast, we were fast, and yeah, in the past here has been fast, but no expectations.
“I want to go out, try to understand in FP1. It’s true that I’m coming from a difficult weekend that, for me, was normal.
“I mean, we were coming from a good shape, and then we arrived in a circuit [where] we struggled more, and I didn’t accept.
“So, when you don’t accept that, then I start to crash more than usual.
“Now I need to step back again, rebuild that confidence during this weekend, and let’s see what we can do.”
MotoGP Free Practice 1 starts tomorrow at 10:45 local time/AEDT.
