MotoGP Mandalika Test: ‘Sector two is too fast’ - Marquez

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez finished in high spirits despite being a lowly 17th and 1.3s adrift of his teammate at Mandalika on Friday.

Marquez completed the opening day on Lombok with a 1’33.776 fastest lap, compared to Pol Espargaró’s 1’32.466, as MotoGP’s new circuit added to challenging weather and track conditions proved an interesting combination for the eight-time world champion. His ‘stay calm’ attitude, however, hinted there was a lot more to come as the weekend’s three-day test unfolds.

“Today was a special day,” Marquez said from Indonesia. “New circuit but especially very dirty conditions. Was time to just run, tomorrow will be better, the third day will be better, GP will be better but today, for us was a good day.

“Still I didn’t push to arrive in that limit, but T1 I like it,” he reflected on the eclectic new layout. “I really like it. T3 also is a nice sector and T4. T2 I don’t like, too fast,” he said while laughing.

“T2, I mean it’s true that in the end, you are there and you go, but is really fast and still some bumps. If you take a big risk you can gain a lot of time but at the moment, keep calm and let’s see.

“I start today with energy and I start to do many laps in a row and try to understand the track, the lines,” he explained of his recovering fitness and capabilities with the new 22-spec RC213V. “But then already in the afternoon I say to the team ‘calm, cool down a bit. Breathe a little bit more in the box’. Then in the afternoon the track was in a better way. We start to ride less and try bigger things, because I need to survive tomorrow and Sunday!”