Marquez: Set-up all about making tyres last the distance

Marc Marquez says that a machine set-up that takes the maximum life from the Bridgestone tyres in their last Grand Prix will be the deciding factor in tomorrow’s race.

The Spaniard is one of many riders struggling to find a comfortable setting with the front tyre, as surprisingly good November weather at Valencia continue to raise the track temperature well above what was expected.

“Normally we are using a hard front tire. But here nobody expect this temperature. We try to change the balance of the bike to try to avoid these problems, but then when you avoid these problems you are coming to another one, so we try to manage it.

“I think that every rider will have this problem tomorrow but the one who will have a better setup and a better pace for the race will have more facilities to keep a constant pace. But for sure it’s going to be difficult to keep the entire race in low 31-second laps. We are going to try but for sure in the middle of the race to the end it will be hard because this time the front tire is quite soft for the conditions.”

However, with cooler temperatures forecast for tomorrow’s race, the Repsol Honda rider may be able to concentrate more on hunting down pole man Jorge Lorenzo.

“Of course the target was to be on the pole position but the second target was try to be in the front row. So for tomorrow it looks like we have a good rhythm. I think it’s a question mark to see how the tyre is after 10 laps or 15 laps in a row, because it looks like here everybody overheat a little bit both tires, front and rear. So we will try to manage well this situation and try to stay with Jorge; it looks that he is the strongest one.”