Austin.- The Spaniard is a pilot of extremes. Thus he broke all the records of precocity; This is how he added his eight world titles and this is how he also proceeds when he has to deal with a situation as complicated as the one he has had to face in recent months, in which injuries have been accumulating.
After missing the last two races as a result of the brutal crash suffered during the Indonesian warm-up, which caused his diplopia problems to recur, Marc Márquez reappeared this Friday in Austin, his talismanic circuit and where he has won in seven of his eight visits. And the thing went well.
On Thursday, in the previous one, the Honda rider made it clear that he was not in a position to set himself another objective other than to go out for a ride and recover his lost confidence. It took five laps to get to the top of the time table, even though the almost hour and a half that the two tests on Friday lasted went by, without his technicians barely modifying the RC213V.
In the end, the one from Cervera (Lleida) finished with the sixth best time, half a second behind the fastest (Johann Zarco).
The room for improvement is great, and listening to him speak, one would not dream of ruling him out as a strong candidate for the podium this Sunday, and perhaps even victory.
“I started aggressively because it was the best way to do it. Today was my day, to trust the bike again. I used the set-up that I crashed with in Indonesia, the same base that I raced with in Qatar. I didn’t have sense to change,” declared Márquez .
“It wasn’t easy to go out and forget what happened in the last two weeks, but it worked out for us,” added the Catalan, who he said freed his squad from making changes to the configuration of their prototype. The priority, this time, was to roll and build the confidence that he needs to offer his best version.
“This Saturday we will go back to work to find some adjustments and, in fact, the team already has several ideas. The sensations of the 2022 Honda are still what is most difficult for me,” continued the #93, who at this point gives very precise instructions to his people, of the topics that he considers sensitive. “I already told them that I came here to run, that they shouldn’t ask me about my physical condition, and that if I wasn’t well I’d tell them,” added Márquez, who, with a view to this Saturday’s qualifying session, “would sign” to get into the second line of the grill.
