Marquez: Rain a question mark for everyone

MotoGP champion Marc Marquez heads into Sunday’s Argentine MotoGP as the clear pre-race favourite.

But that was also the case one year ago, when incidents and mishaps left him out of the points.

This time the biggest unknown is the weather, which threatens to wash away a clear pace advantage.

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“Of course if tomorrow it rains it will be a question mark for everybody, because nobody rides in the rain yet,” Marquez said. “We hope that if it’s a wet race, we can have the warm-up in the wet to try a few things and find the grip limit of the track.”

The Repsol Honda star was speaking after taking pole position by 0.154s over Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, with Qatar winner Andrea Dovizioso completing a close front row for Ducati.

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Despite his pace, it wasn’t an easy day for Marquez, who had been forced to stop on track when his chain derailed in final practice, admitted his advantage over the field isn’t as great over a single lap and has generally reduced as the grip increases.

“It has been a very good weekend but of course tomorrow is the most important,” Marquez said. “Today in FP3 I felt really strong, then FP4 we had a small issue [with the chain], then all the team reacted really good and prepared the other bike.

“In qualifying I tried to push because I knew the other riders would be close because in one lap I’m struggling a little bit more than the race pace, because the set-up of the bike is completely different.

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“But on the race pace I feel strong. The gap was bigger yesterday because the grip was less and then I feel like it’s easier to ride but apart from that the pace was good. This is the most important and, tomorrow, let’s wait and see about the weather.”

Asked to name his expected challengers, assuming a dry race, Marquez picked out eighth-place starter and 2018 winner Cal Crutchlow alongside Vinales, Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who heads row two.

“Cal I think has more-or-less the same problem as me in that on one lap he struggles a little more but on the race pace he will be there. Then it’s these two guys [Vinales and Dovizioso] plus Valentino.

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“Looks like they are the strongest ones and we’ll try to understand the track conditions because it’s changing a lot. In the morning the grip was different to the afternoon, then looks like every time there is more and more rubber on the track and the grip is better.

“So they will be there and let’s see which strategy we can use.”

Marquez finished a close second to Dovizioso during the opening round in Qatar.