HRC vice-president Shuhei Nakamoto told rider Marc Marquez to finish today’s Jerez MotoGP race instead of going for the win and potentially throw it at the scenery as he may have done in past years, and the Spanish youngster heeded the advice, coming home in third place after struggling with his front Michelin.
Marquez believed he had enough pace early doors to pass Jorge Lorenzo as eventual winner Valentino Rossi escaped into the distance but a few front-end moments meant the former champion opt for discretion as the better part of valour and he bagged 16 points for third.
“I saw in some laps that maybe I was able to overtake Jorge, but I already started to feel that the front tyre for me was on the soft side, so I decided to wait a little bit but I saw that for my riding style the temperature was more and I felt it a lot, especially in the brake points,” said Marquez, who like the works Yamahas opted for the hard-option front.
“I wasn’t able to stop the bike and when I was behind Jorge, he started to open some metres and every acceleration I was losing some metres. I tried to recover on the brake points but I was overheating more and more the front tyre so I took a difficult decision and say, ‘Today, 16 points is enough, it is our position’.
“Of course, maybe last year it was different but this winter I learned a lot and already before the race Nakamoto say to me, ‘Please finish the race’.”
