Marquez: Misano fourth 'means more' than Aragon but victory 'far away'

Marc Marquez may not have been able to repeat his Aragon victory battle, but fourth place at Misano on Sunday was his best result of the season at a 'right-hand' MotoGP circuit.

Right-hand turns, which dominate the world championship due to the usual clockwise track direction, are where the eight-time world champion is still struggling due to pain and weakness in his healing right shoulder.

By contrast, the Spaniard won at the Sachsenring, the first anti-clockwise circuit of the season, then returned to the podium at the next 'left-hand' track in Aragon.

Marquez's best clockwise finish of the season prior to Misano had been just seventh place, which is why Sunday's result 'means more' than at Aragon.

But despite the clockwise progress, Marquez was still 10-seconds from victory at Misano and made clear a significant part of his struggles are technical as well as physical.

"Of course, this fourth place is more important than second place last week. It means more," Marquez said. "But it's true that my target is to try to fight for the victory, and I still feel far away from this.

"Okay, I finished fourth, but I feel far from the pace that Bagnaia and Quartararo were riding today. And Bastianini too, he was very strong.

"But today I realised that, although I still need to improve my physical condition, we also have some big weak points on the bike and without those we will be able to be faster.

"Riding in a right-hand circuit, where for example my team-mate was very strong during all weekend, we finished in front, so that means that the level is there [physically].

"But I don't want to have enough level to be the first Honda, I want to have the level to fight for the championship and to fight for the victory every race weekend."

In order to do that, the RC213V - known to be lacking rear grip - needs to improve on corner exit.

"Where we need to work more is corner exit acceleration. Everything is related. If you have a good exit out of the corner, you will have good acceleration, and then you will stop the bike better, because you arrive with more speed, brake a bit earlier, and don't force the front a lot.

"Now we need to do all our lap time in the braking area again, and then this means more risk, a lot of crashes, too much.

"We need to understand the way that the Ducati riders [make the lap time]. I was behind Bastianini, he was braking like an animal, stopping the bike, and then going out of the corner like a rocket.

"It's true that Yamaha is completely different style. But I believe that Ducati is more competitive than Yamaha now, however Quartararo is the fastest guy, his speed is really good."

Team-mate Pol Espargaro was the next best Honda rider in seventh place.

Marquez and Espargaro will be back on track to work on both short and long-term improvements for the Honda RCV during the official Misano Test on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Marc was struggling with pain [this weekend], but we know that this test is very important as it allows us to try new components. It won’t be easy for him, but he will do it," said team manager Alberto Puig.

MotoGP then heads for COTA, the third anti-clockwise track of the season, where Marquez has won six out of the past seven races.