While his Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, took a stunning pole position for his home Grand Prix at the Jerez circuit on Saturday afternoon, reigning world champion Marc Marquez was forced to settled for P2.
The Spanish rider made good use of the work he did on the setup of his RC213V, and after a fourth-fastest time in the morning's FP3 session ensured him a direct passage to Q2, he posted the top time in FP4 and then fought hard for the pole in qualifying.
However, he admits that his teammate, who has been fastest here all weekend, was just too quick out there on Saturday…
“Dani has been really strong and fast today, and all weekend honestly,” Marc said. “For that reason, I tried to follow him during the final laps in qualifying, to learn what he was doing differently! I was able to do a very good lap time and that was my target, to get a front-row start because I've been struggling a bit here with the fast lap.”
“I'm happy because it looks like we're getting better and better. Today in FP4 we were able to set a very good pace and we're very satisfied with that. Normally this circuit is not one of the best for our bike and for my riding style, but it looks like our plans are working well.”
“We're improving in the areas we're working on, and that's also important in view of the coming races at the other European tracks. Anyway, now we must think about tomorrow; race day is always different but we'll try to manage well.”
