‘Pressure is motivation’ for Marquez as contract season looms

Alex Marquez launched his third year in MotoGP on Wednesday as he returns to the LCR Castrol Honda team for 2022.

Buoyed by positive preseason testing at both Jerez and Sepang in recent months with the all-new Honda RC213V, Marquez is confident but hesitant of the potential in store for the coming year.

“We tried already the bike at Jerez so we had already some information,” the 25-year-old said of the recent Malaysia outing. “We’re starting trying a few things, Honda asking to us to try to see in comparison Jerez how was the bike? But from the first moment I feel quite okay. We try exhaust, some wings, some engine and all this so I was really liking the bike.

“Is true that still we need many more laps and try more setups and all this. Malaysia for me is never easy test but also is not a really ‘real’ test. Is some test that everybody’s fast in one lap, about the rhythm you can see a bit more the reality, that we were not bad. So quite positive, quite good, but still I’m really looking forward to try the new bike in Mandalika to see in different types of tracks, how is the bike. Will be a good test for us to see how far we are from the others or how close we are.

“This the main thing for Mandalika and moving forward to, step by step be more fast and more comfortable on the bike and have everything more under control. This is the main thing for this second test.”

During Repsol Honda’s launch presentation, HRC bosses were quick to highlight the revolutionary nature of the 2022 machine and the key role feedback from all four of their factory riders had been in the process.

“The four riders, we asked for one thing that was really important for us, that was rear grip,” Marquez confirmed. “Rear grip we have more. We confirm in