At the end of the GP that took place on the Portimão circuit, Luca Marini was four places lower than in qualifying and came twelfth on the checkered flag. The Avintia Racing team driver from Pesaro crossed the finish line almost half a minute behind first-placed Fabio Quartararo.
“I am not very satisfied – Luca said – I thought I could be faster, at least half a second. I can’t understand why, maybe because of the track conditions. I suffered a lot with the rear tire and also with the front tire. It wasn’t easy, from the beginning it was difficult for me to keep up with the others. I lost a few tenths on every lap and then the pace slowed down a lot. We’ll have to compare the data because even in Qatar 2 my pace was very slow. I am generally happy with the result of the weekend, the sensations with the bike have improved, but I cannot be happy for the race. It will be necessary to improve in this area as it is not possible to be slower in the race than in FP4 ”.
What did you learn today
“Something I can’t say and that MotoGP tires are key. You need to understand how they work and how to use them to make sure they work well throughout the race. I have to concentrate on that and improve something on the bike in order to be even more comfortable. “
Yesterday after qualifying you said it was difficult to stay in the top 10 because the factory drivers are all there, are you happy with the laps you did at the start of the race?
“I didn’t do well at the beginning of the race, I had a lot of struggles. In the other training sessions I didn’t have so much trouble keeping up with this pace. The leaders even went a step further, they were half a second faster. I could and even had to reduce my pace. Up to a point, being up half the race counts because the bottom line counts. Overall, it was a positive weekend. I am satisfied with the work done, we have to understand what is happening in the race.
Did you manage to learn something from behind? Maybe even by watching your brother …
“Secure. If you follow drivers of a certain level, you always understand a lot of things. Everyone has their own style, but it’s always nice to follow more experienced drivers. It’s hard to imitate what a rider does with another bike. it is more useful when I stand behind a Ducati because I can try to implement what I see of them. It’s nice to be up front with the strongest drivers. It was a fun race at the beginning, I would have loved to stay with them until the end. “
You have raced on two different MotoGP circuits, what do you expect for Jerez now?
“Jerez will be interesting. Last year the Ducatis did well, but they had problems in previous years. The potential of the bike is always very good and it’s a track we all know very well, it’s the track we’ve ridden the most in our careers. It will be interesting to experience it on a MotoGP bike. I am very curious, everyone is strong and the gaps are minimal. It will be important to be precise and consistent in order to do what I haven’t been able to do in these three races. “
She and Enea were two opposing races. He said he fought more in the first part than he managed to get up again, but there was a drop on lap 10. Have you already had a chance to look at the data? What was the difference to Bastianini?
“Yes, I took a quick look, but we’ll be going into more detail in the meetings over the next few days. Enea was faster towards the end of the race, got into corners faster and got better out of corners that are after the top of the hill, he did better than me. I lost a little on every lap and it got more and more difficult. One thing we both had was a huge pump at the rear and great movement of the bike. I suffered from it right from the start and actually had to consume less power; I couldn’t drive with the full power card. Enea did a better job, after the first ten laps I really had problems. “