Marquez: Ducati can win in Qatar

Marc Marquez wrapped up winter testing with the second fastest time of the Qatar test after spending time trying to improve front feel and eke out more top speed from the Honda RC213v. On the opening night, when the track conditions were dusty and riders up and down the pitlane complained of a lack of grip, Marquez spent time working on new fairings. The new parts are part of Honda’s bid to increase the top speed of their bike and afterwards Marquez spoke to MCN about the targets with the new development: “The new fairing is to try and improve our top speed,” said Marquez. “This straight is long and because conditions are so consistent here you can try different parts. We saw some positive points and some negatives about this so if they want to continue with that they’ll have some work to do.” Over the course of 98 laps split over two nights the champion felt that the team had made progress with their package. The rain on the final night they were only able to focus on the front end and not able to fully optimise the rear ahead of next weekend’s season opener. “We improved the front a little bit because that was something that we had been struggling with but we weren’t able to work more on the rear. On Day 2 we focussed on the front but I’m really happy with the work that we have done.” Having been sandwiched by the Ducati riders on the final timing sheets Marquez admitted that while he doesn’t believe Ducati will be a title contender they will start the season as a favourite to win in Qatar: “I think that if tomorrow was the race Ducati would have a big chance to win the race so we’ll have to keep working to find something more! If you asked me in Malaysia I’d have said that Ducati wouldn’t be able to be this quick but here in Qatar. “Even so I know that for the championship my main rivals are Yamaha and Dani. For one race Ducati will be strong many times but we need to understand who our rivals are because if Ducati gets good results they will lose some of their advantages but it’s interesting for the championship to have another manufacturer competing at the front.”