FEATURE
P94
THE MARQUEZ PHENOMENON
Alex Marquez is the younger brother, but he's making a name for himself in Moto3.
You had to be tough, he agrees.
"In MotoGP, even more. If you
want to pass you need good confidence, and to be clear. If not...
the bike is a little more heavy, the
speed is even more, so it is difficult. But if you prepare well, you
can pass them."
His victims so far include all
the top riders at least twice, and
he's only just begun. After the Le
Mans race, in which he'd demonstrated seven more fine overtaking moves from an apparently unlimited repertoire, he was asked
how he had managed it without
incurring any further talk of penalties. "Because it wasn't the last
lap," he grinned.
The arrival of brother Alex in
the paddock is welcomed: the
family is close, neither son having left home yet. Marc admits
the ominous truth. "Faster I don't
know, but he won the Spanish
Championship, which I never
won. So he's fast... in Supermoto and motocross when we train,
faster than I was at his age."
As for advice: "At home yes. I
will say: try this line, try a different
gear... to another rider, I never
say that. At the track is different.
I try to help in the evening, but
you are at the circuit doing your
job. Here it is better that Emilio
speaks to him."
Doing his job is an absorbing
task, for the fans as well as the
rider. Marquez is still learning
he says, but his speed of learning has so far been phenomenal:
adapting not only to grippier tires,
stronger brakes, more weight,
double the horsepower, but also
completely unfamiliar electronics.
One more example from Le
Mans. Having only essayed a
couple of runs in the wet at Jerez
tests, this was his first time to ride
a MotoGP bike in the wet. He
spun the rear wheel off the start
and had a run-off and a couple of
near crashes as he got the measure of the thing. Then, on the
eighth lap, he set fastest lap of
the race so far.
Beat that, brother.
CN
