Marquez faster on 2018 Honda, feeling better on 2019 prototype

Marc Marquez may have set his fastest lap of the day on his 2018 Repsol Honda but with focus on the 2019 prototype he remains buoyed by the better feelings despite remaining under strict instruction not to push the limits.

The reigning MotoGP world champion joked “my team would kill me” while assessing his two new bikes at the post-season Valencia test, Marquez trialled his 2018-specificaiton RC213V alongside a 2019 prototype at Jerez.

Marquez confirmed he set his fastest lap time on the 2018 bike, a 1m 38.517s which initially placed him fastest before being shuffled down to fifth place over the final two hours, but with stronger concentration on next year’s bike he was pleased to find a better feeling from the prototype engine – despite being wary of only having one engine ready for the test.

“It is a different bike changing chassis, changing engine and a few things,” Marquez said comparing the differences. “We are trying to understand which one is the best one and we are also trying to play with the bike balance. We are in a good way.

“Today it is true I set my fastest lap time on the 2018 bike but on the 2019 bike I felt slightly better in a few areas so tomorrow we will concentrate on 2019 and try to understand where we are.

“I feel the difference is in the engine, the chassis is very similar but the biggest difference is in the engine.

“That is where we have some new evolutions and have time to work and understand because when you get a new engine you have to adapt the electronics which adapts the character of the engine. We are working on this engine.”

Marquez, who confirmed new Repsol Honda team-mate Jorge Lorenzo had the same bike options available at Jerez, didn’t feel significant progress was made on trying to make the front-end tyre-friendly with the softer front options.

“I tried today but here it was not working,” he said. “I tried the morning and it did not look bad but soon the temperature was slightly higher.

“I changed to the medium and immediately it was much better, the bike. It looks like we are close. It is not critical like before.”