Marc Marquez: Keep building, keep improving, keep closing

The Repsol Honda star has taken 99 rostrums since joining the premier-class, including 59 wins, but has been forced to settle for a best of fourth place in his four races this season.

A fifth race in a row without a podium would equal last year’s drought following his return from lengthy arm injuries. Prior to that, Marquez had gone no longer than three consecutive events without standing on the MotoGP podium.

After trailing team-mate Pol Espargaro in the Qatar season opener, and despite missing two rounds due to diplopia, Marquez has returned to his usual position as Honda’s standout performer.

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That’s despite feeling far from comfortable with the front-end feeling from the new RCV.

“Still I don’t understand where the limit is. For that reason I just try to be very precise all the time, not exaggerate, and don’t do a lot of mistakes. This is the only way at the moment that I’m able to ride in a constant, but slow, pace,” he said at Jerez.

“In my personal case still, I'm still struggling a lot with the front. The turning is slow. It’s there where we need to understand because as soon I try to push a bit more then it's easy to crash.”

After making a big save on his way to a fighting fourth in the race, Marquez worked to try and improve his front-end feeling during the post-race test. Aerodynamics, old and new, plus new set-up ideas were on the eight time world champion’s agenda, although he ultimately concluded ‘our weak point is still there’.

Marc Marquez: 'Keep building, keep improving and keep closing'

Nonetheless, the data gathered during the 60 laps will now be taken to Le Mans, where Marquez qualified in sixth place last season (in what was his third event since his injury comeback) but then fell while in podium contention during the rain-interrupted race.

“Overall the Jerez weekend was good when we also include the test because we were able to learn a good amount. Now we arrive in France to see what’s possible,” Marquez said.

“The important thing is to keep building, keep improving and keep closing the distance to the front. In Jerez we made progress and now we must keep on going, especially after the test, it’s important to see how everything is.

“I have had some good races in Le Mans and some more challenging races there, it can depend a lot on the conditions but they’re looking good for this weekend.“

Team-mate Pol Espargaro, currently the subject of rumours over his future, put in a massive 85 laps on his way to fifth and top Honda at the Monday test as he seeks to try and regain his Qatar podium form.

“Last year I think Le Mans was one of the first weekends where we could really start to show our potential,” said Espargaro, who qualified and finished eighth last season.

“I know how myself and the bike have improved since then so I am looking forward to going back and putting into action what we found during the test. I’ve had some good races in Le Mans, the cooler conditions and the high levels of grip suit my riding style a lot.

“MotoGP is very close at the moment so we can’t rely on the past, no matter what we need to work well from the start of the weekend – qualify well and fight hard during the race.”

After leading for most of the Qatar race, Espargaro has finished a best of ninth in the four events since.