During Friday afternoon’s Indonesian MotoGP practice, Marc Marquez turned back the clock by executing a stunning 65-degree front end save.
Like he had many times in his Repsol Honda career, the Spaniard used his knee and elbow to raise his Gresini machine back upright.
On a Ducati, though, this was the first time he had executed such a drastic rescue.
Marquez smiled and said, “With Ducati, the best one. The best one and the only one right now.”
“I’ve made small saves here and there, but it’s been a while since one of those big ones.”
Marquez went on, “You have a higher possibility of having this kind of save when your grip is not perfect. For instance, the track was far more slippery in Misano than it is here, which resulted in numerous crashes. Thus, it vanishes as you lose the front.
You have more leeway here. However, as the track gets better and better, there won’t be as much encouragement to make these kinds of saves.
On the dusty opening day in Mandalika, Marquez was expected to do well after winning the low-grip Aragon weekend.
But in the practice sessions, he had to make do with sixth and seventh position, respectively.
Marquez stated, “It was a really wonderful feeling when I saved it, but as I’ve said before, the save is good for the show, but it means I don’t feel comfortable and we need to keep improving.”
“I wanted to feel good right away, but I was apprehensive because I’ve never had much luck on this track.
with actuality, I had a lot of difficulty with FP1. Afterwards, in FP2, I improved both the bike and myself. However, I still need to make some progress in Sector 2, which is where I’m having the most difficulty, for tomorrow.
The eight-time world champion had also anticipated that his scorching Red Bull Ring performance would be repeated with the reintroduction of the stiffer rear tire.
The pushing from the back [tyre] to the front is one of my issues this year, he admitted. “It’s all a result of my late turn and late pick-up [on the corner exit].”
“I felt better and better in Red Bull Ring, but I’m having some trouble here again today, especially with the new tire.”
“With the old tire, I don’t feel too bad, but with the new tire, I had a lot of trouble understanding the time attack because it was even worse pushing from the back to the front.”
But even with the worn medium rear tire, Marquez appears to still have some work ahead of him.
While Marquez had a low of 1m 31.2 and Francesco Bagnaia a best of 1m 31.4 this afternoon, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin both set mid-1 m 30s on old mediums.
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