Luca Marini, the new rider for Repsol Honda, made a joke about how astonished he was to see someone was following him in the Qatar MotoGP
race.
Marini was temporarily 19th on the first lap of the grand prix after qualifying ahead of just Franco Morbidelli and placing 21st and last in the Sprint.
However, the three riders in rear quickly caught up, and Marini was shocked to see that one more cyclist was still in front of him.
“Why was there someone behind me, I wondered when I noticed it on my pit board? Who? Marini grinned.
The rider in question was Jack Miller of Red Bull KTM, who fell out of the top ten at the beginning of lap two but managed to catch up to Marini by lap ten of the race.
The Italian then attempted to take advantage of the circumstance by examining the Australian’s RC16.
After the delayed start, Marini stated, “I tried to follow him and let him pass so that I wouldn’t take any chances going below with the tire pressure.”
“I attempted to comprehend his motivations, as the KTM has significantly improved from the previous year and is now very powerful.”I believe that something constructive occurs to me, and I understand what needs to be done; nonetheless, we require some time to attempt more solutions.
Miller complained that he was losing the front and rear anytime he tried to push, but Marini saw a distinct grip advantage over the Honda and spent seven laps behind the Australian before regaining the lead.
“They have a lot of rear grip, especially in the last part of the entry, and they can use this rear grip to make the bike turn in an easier way in the middle of the corner. They can also touch the gas and keep turning,” Marini said, adding that “I think that Jack was not in his best shape.”
We are having the most difficulty with this, me especially. This is the grip in the back, particularly from the [corner] entry point. The bike turns more smoothly than my bike at the entering phase.
Marini gained insight into how the Honda’s aerodynamics were altered by the filthy air throughout the laps he completed in Miller’s slipstream.
“I could do the turns in both [clean] and [dirty] air, so I was able to fully comprehend the effect of our wings and downforce. We should definitely rebalance the bike a little bit, as this will improve our performance.
The leading Honda rider, Johann Zarco, finished in twelfth place, followed by teammate Joan Mir of Marini in thirteenth.
The two were a whopping 24 seconds ahead of Marini, who experienced a “little” technical problem throughout the race, although they were 18 seconds behind Ducati race winner Francesco Bagnaia.
“I moved slowly for this, so. However, Marini said, “Maybe I couldn’t have fought for a good position as my teammate did even without that issue.”