did not look for excuses Marc Márquez to his sixth place in the Portuguese GP. He knew that “more was expected”, but he had that it is not yet in his sweet moment. He enjoyed the fight with his brother and, although he knows that it won’t always pay off to finish sixth, he took comfort in being at least the best Honda and cutting two points off the overall leader.
-Are you or the motorcycle not well?
-That’s all. Not just me or just the bike. It is a consequence. When you are in a sweet moment, everything works. But obviously I’m not in a sweet spot and I need the help of the bike. It is true that even so I was able to fight with the rest of the Hondas, but my goal is not to be the best Honda, but to be in the front positions.
-How about the fight with your brother Álex?
-I had a good time in the race for that. You have a good time when you win, but within the race I have tried to find different motivations. It reminded me of when we came here three months ago, that the two of us rode together with the street MotoGP and it was similar. He was riding very well, although in the last few laps I was able to pick him up a little more. In the last laps it doesn’t matter if he’s a brother or not, you try to overtake him. He has tried to defend himself, he almost passed me entering the finish line, but he has been nice. Hopefully these duels can be played for more forward positions.
-What does the sixth ending tell you?
-It was not the position we were looking for. We were looking for more, to fight for at least the first five positions and we have not achieved it. In addition, we have finished very far from the first. It is also true that from the beginning I have not felt well. I have been able to follow many bikes, Pol and Álex, and I have seen that they more or less had my problems. When Rins passed me at the start of the race, I saw that he was two steps ahead. We’ll see, we have to keep working. This weekend I take everything with tweezers, but in Jerez in four days we will see where we are.
Is it a matter of lack of luck or speed?
-I believe that when you have the speed and you go fast, it seems that you are lucky and everything works out, but it is because you have the potential and you go fast, and you have the speed. If you have speed, it is much easier to manage practice, it is much easier for a lap to start, it is much easier to make a good start… But because you have speed, and if you make a bad start, you overtake and it has not happened any. But when you don’t have the speed, everything has to be at the right and perfect moment to achieve a good result. And when that doesn’t happen, it’s time to suffer. Today once again. In Austin we had the speed and that’s why we came back, but if the same thing had happened here I wouldn’t have come back because I didn’t have the speed. We have known how to suffer and get this sixth.
-In a championship with so many ups and downs, can some sixth places be considered good?
-They can be considered good at this time, but not in the long term. They are not results to fight for the championship. In Europe we have already seen a very strong Quartararo, who will also go fast in Jerez. We have seen a very strong Mir… The issue is that in no race have we gained much speed or much advantage. The one where we could get it, maybe it was Austin, but we didn’t get it. In Jerez it’s time to keep working and try to be among the top five. I no longer say podium, but being in the top five. We have a test after Jerez and we have to keep working.
-He reached 40 points and is now 38 behind the lead…
-Yes indeed. It’s something. (Laughter).