After securing a sixth win of the season, a seventh straight podium finish of 2018 and his third consecutive MotorLand win at the Aragon GP, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) crept closer to a seventh World Championship. Can he edge towards another crown at the inaugural PTT Thailand Grand Prix this weekend?
“It will be exciting to race in Thailand for the first time; for sure there will be many fans in the grandstands, which is always a nice feeling,” said the four-time MotoGP™ king as he looks forward to racing for the first time at the Chang International Circuit.
The Spaniard continued: “We must remain focused and calm though, as it will be important to manage the weekend well, working in the way that we’re used to doing. We had a good test in February but we’ll need to recheck every detail starting on Friday morning. Some parts of the circuit are tricky, but the layout in general is nice. Surely the high humidity and temperature are going to be demanding on the body, but when you get on the bike you just forget those things and simply focus on riding.”
Marquez set the third quickest lap time at the pre-season test the premier class riders took part in at the Chang International Circuit, but it was Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa who topped the timesheets back in February. Can the ‘Little Samurai’ pick up where he left off and have a shot at the podium – at least – at the Thai GP?
“Of course we have the references from the test we did in February, which went well, so we hope the feeling will be similar,” explained the three-time World Champion, who gears up for his final five MotoGP™ races before retiring at the end of the season.
“The heat will be high and that will severely put to the test the bike, tyres and ourselves, but it’s something we have dealt with many times already in Malaysia,” concluded Pedrosa, who was fifth last time out in Aragon - his best result since the Catalan GP.
Will it be another successful weekend for the Repsol Honda team?