Marquez bidding to take championship lead on home soil
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain: Reigning world champion Marc Marquez says his Honda team are looking for more consistency at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, after claiming his first win of the season last month in the United States.
The Spaniard stormed to his sixth straight victory at the MotoGP of the Americas in Austin to cut the gap to early championship leader Andrea Dovizioso to just one point after three races.
Sunday’s race at Jerez de la Frontera starts off the European swing of the season at a track where Marquez has surprisingly only won once in nine attempts.
“Here ( Europe), the circuits are generally different and more ‘traditional’, starting with Jerez, which is a tighter, slower, and more difficult track than the ones like Austin,” said Marquez.
“We had a good test there at the end of March, and we’ll approach it with a positive mentality. Racing in front of my home crowd and my fan club will of course add to the good feeling and atmosphere.
“We’ll keep working hard and focusing on consistency, which is a crucial point for the title chase.”
Ducati’s Dovizioso again looks likely to be Marquez’s chief rival this year, after seeing his title hopes ended only on the final day of last season when he crashed out in Valencia.
Marquez’s campaign started slowly this time out, finishing second in Qatar before failing to collect any points in a badtempered race in Argentina, but he’s confident he can win a fifth title in the top class.
“I think Dovi will be a great rival, as he was last year,” said the 25-year- old.
“Anyway, this year I feel really good on the bike: in Qatar, Argentina, and Austin, the confidence was always there, and that’s the most important thing.
“We’re just one point behind in the championship, so we must continue this way.”
Italian Dovizioso said: “We come to the first European round of the season first in the standings, a situation that is clearly much better than last year, and this is certainly positive.”
Marquez clashed with Valentino Rossi in Argentina last month, with the Italian veteran saying afterwards that he is “scared” to race alongside the Honda rider.
The 39-year- old is already 20 points off the pace after that crash and needs to start winning to revive his hopes of a 10th world title.
“The first races of the season didn’t go very well but we tried something positive,” Rossi said.
“Last year we struggled a lot (at Jerez), but this year I think we can be better. We want to improve and fight for this championship.” — AFP