MotoGP: Marquez and Stoner 'amazed' each other with data

Marc Marquez has admitted to MCN that when he first came to MotoGP in 2013, a valuable part of his learning process was using former Repsol Honda world champion Casey Stoner’s data to help show him the limits of what was capable on the RCV213.

But while the young Spaniard might have thought that the Australian’s riding style was impossible at the time, he also admitted that by the time Stoner left his role as a Honda test rider, the tables had turned!

“The way of riding now is the same as before, it’s just that the limit is earlier. In the end, we ride in the same way, but you arrive to that limit earlier. Casey saw my data and could maybe see me locking the front wheel on braking! You can see the limit there! It’s nice to have someone like Casey saying good things about me, but I said the same when I first saw his!

“When I arrived in 2013, I looked at his data and said ‘I can’t ride the bike like this.’ I saw Dani’s data, and thought I could arrive there, but I only ever looked at Casey’s data a few times. I saw that the limit on it was really far. I’m always trying to find the limit with the front data, but the way he opened the gas so aggressively, like he was riding a 125, and the way the bike was moving when he was acceleration is something that you need to be very careful with!”

However, while his riding style in past years might have been ultra-aggressive, he also admitted that he’s tried to change over the last season – a decision that ultimately brought him title success.

“I try to be smoother now, but in the end I’m still as aggressive. I try not to go over the limit, because sometimes now I can push to the limit, feel it, and then stay below it. Before, I didn’t care about a crash, but now I know that I don’t need to go over the limit.”

To read the full exclusive interview with the new world champion, see today Wednesday 26^th October’s Motorcycle News.