FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPION MARC MARQUEZ
P102
PROFILE
"At the beginning of the
season, we had big problems,"
he said after securing the title at
Motegi. "We were behind with
the bike, and the winter tests
were complicated."
One of this worst moments of
the season, he said, had been
at the Qatar tests, lagging badly.
Even after a step forward had
lifted him to within less than a
second of Lorenzo on the final
day, it was just a single lap. And
he knew how hard he had to ride
to produce it.
"We had problems espe-
cially with acceleration. Not bad
power, but we couldn't open the
throttle. The other bikes, espe-
cially Yamaha, were much faster
on corner exit."
And then all the way down the
straight. At the race a few weeks
later, Marquez was almost six mph
slower than the fastest Ducati.
The new technical rules had
put Honda on the back foot. The
change to "unified software"
gave electronic engineers a
big hill to climb. While Yamaha
and Ducati were already familiar
with Magneti Marelli equipment,
Honda had stuck with its own
If you want to
beat Marquez
at Austin, you
better bring
more than your
A-game: he's
never lost in
Texas.
