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MotoGP Sachsenring: Marquez to play it safe with old chassis

German MotoGP pole sitter Marc Marquez said that he is going to play it safe, using the older chassis on his Repsol Honda RC213V for tomorrows 30-lap race at the Sachsenring.

The Spaniard broke his own lap record en-route to securing his tenth consecutive pole position at the German circuit. During a crazy qualifying session, the World Champion went for a two stop strategy, leaving him posting laps on both of his available bikes.

His two bikes have the two different chassis fitted. Marquez said that his new one shows they can be faster with it fitted, but it isn’t worth the risk over a race distance.

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“We try a new chassis,” said the 26-year-old.

“We tried it in Montmelo and the potential was there, we re-tried here and the potential is there, but still we need to understand. It’s true that with that chassis we can be even faster, but we don’t know what happens over the race distance. We will go back to the one we know, because sometimes it’s better to have something that is maybe a little bit worse where you know the reactions rather than something you don’t know.

“So we need more information and we made some back-to-back here, but we showed that the potential with the new chassis is there and we need to analyse more.

“We work more on the current chassis, we did more laps on the tyres with the current chassis, and we know what’s going on. We know the reactions of this chassis.

“With the new chassis we have some positive but also some negative. Sometimes the negatives things can lead to a crash, and then you try to avoid this thing. Maybe with the new chassis I can be faster, but I don’t feel safe enough to do 30 laps in a row. So we need more time to analyse deeply, but it’s more about safety and our situation in the championship.”

Despite breaking the lap record, the World Champion said that he actually felt better on his second run than he did on his final run, which saw him eventually secure pole position.

“There was some pressure there from both Yamaha riders, but from the first tyre and first run in qualifying practice I feel good,” he said.

“The second run is the one where I felt better, the time was good but I made a few mistakes. Then the last run is the one where I felt the worst, but then I was able to be fast, to be on pole. The main target was to be on the front row, we tried to prepare for the race all weekend.

“We’ve tried all the tyres and we’re still not sure what is the best option, because it’s different, a different feeling, different character. We’re trying to analyse now, tomorrow in the race I know these two guys will be fast and will be constant. We need to keep going and see what happens.”

Going into tomorrows race, Marquez sits 44 points clear atop the World Championship, with his closest rival Andrea Dovizioso qualifying down in thirteenth place. When asked about whether this means he is more likely to go for a tenth straight victory in Germany or think of the championship, he said: “It’s true both Yamaha riders are in a really good form and they are riding really good. But also Rins is there with a good pace.

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“The good thing for me is the closest guys in the championship are the two Ducati riders and they’re struggling a little bit, especially Dovi, so this is important and this is good for me.

“But I’m not thinking about the tenth consecutive victory, I’m thinking about the championship. Tomorrow we will see, if for some reason the tyre drops or the grip of the track is not the best one, I don’t find the feeling, it’s better to take points and be there at the top of the championship than win again here in Sachsenring.”

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