Marquez bidding to take championship lead on home soil
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain: Reigning world champion Marc Marquez says his Honda team is looking for more consistency at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, after claiming his
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.
Today’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,
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,” he said.
“We’ll keep working hard and focusing on consistency, which is a crucial point for the title chase,” Marquez added.
Ducati’s Dovizioso again looks likely to be Marquez’s chief rival this year, after seeing his title hopes ended
when he crashed out in Valencia. Marquez’s campaign started slowly
before failing to collect any points in a bad-tempered race in Argentina, but
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 -
always there, and that’s the most important thing,” Marquez said.
“We’re just one point behind in the championship, so we must continue this way,” he added.
Italian Dovizioso said: “We come to
clearly much better than last year, and this is certainly positive.”
Rossi vows to improve
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.
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
for this championship,” he added.
Meanwhile, KTM have stepped up their bid to force their way to the top of MotoGP by announcing the signing of rising star Johann Zarco for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The 27-year-old YamahaTech rider is
- cellent pace in taking three pole positions since moving into the top class last year.
The current KTM pair of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith have struggled in the opening three races, with the Spaniard winning all eight of their points so far.
“It is clear that we want to take another
about building up the project and to get everything running,” said KTM motor sports director Pit Beirer.
“I’m convinced we can reach the next level with a rider like Johann with us.”