How will Marc Marquez do in 2024?

JPSLotus said:

Who can also forget that Sepang presser when the conspiracy was unveiled, Rossi looked like he'd been on a week-long meth binge.

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Exclusive footage taken before the press conference of Rossi's mental gymnastics.

michaelm said:

He basically said MM had conspired to help Jorge Lorenzo in the PI race the week before, a race MM actually won by passing Lorenzo on the last lap thereby depriving Jorge of 5 points.

It emerged later that Rossi himself had no suspicion during the race but that MM’s perfidy had been discovered by an analysis by one Ucchio, who determined that MM hadn’t raced Lorenzo when he passed him earlier in the race as hard as he did Rossi later in the race.

I am biased but have been a motorsports fan since my early teens, and that a competitor could tank a race he actually won was a new concept for me.

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Don't forget all the Valeban stating how 'obvious' it was that Marquez has been impeding Rossi, but magically none of them realised how obviously it was until their messiah told them how obvious it was 4 days later, on October 22nd. If you recall correctly, they were wanting Iannone's blood until Rossi told them 'no, Marquez is the one you should be mad at'

As Lorenzo succinctly put when asked in Marquez was helping him. "Yes, especially on the last lap". As you said, hearing people try to explain how Marquez tanked a race he won made me realise how stupid many people are. Especially when he essentially repeated the tactic in 2018 I think, when he backed off midway through the race to cool his front tyre.

That takes me back though. This place was crazy in late October 2015 I actually still go back and look at that thread occasionally.

#22 said:

Don't forget all the Valeban stating how 'obvious' it was that Marquez has been impeding Rossi, but magically none of them realised how obviously it was until their messiah told them how obvious it was 4 days later, on October 22nd. If you recall correctly, they were wanting Iannone's blood until Rossi told them 'no, Marquez is the one you should be mad at'

As Lorenzo succinctly put when asked in Marquez was helping him. "Yes, especially on the last lap". As you said, hearing people try to explain how Marquez tanked a race he won made me realise how stupid many people are. Especially when he essentially repeated the tactic in 2018 I think, when he backed off midway through the race to cool his front tyre.

That takes me back though. This place was crazy in late October 2015 I actually still go back and look at that thread occasionally.

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My view has been that MM pretty much decided, by his standards anyway, not to interfere with the title contenders, then found the bike came to him later in the race and of course went for the win as you would expect from him. The whole reason he was out of contention for the title in 2015 was that he had thrown his bike down the road 5 times in previous races going too hard early, iirc from positions that would have had him in the lead of the championship had he settled for said positions. Apparently he was somehow obliged to keep doing same. I also never saw why Rossi not qualifying well enough with the consequent necessity of coming through the field late in races was any other rider’s problem either.

The Iannone aspect was most telling for me, absolute proof that Rossi orchestrated the behaviour of that element of his fanbase. I also would have found it more rational If he had come up with suspicions immediately post race, he would still have been wrong imo although I am not a 9 times world champion, but Ucchio whom I don’t find particularly credible later proudly announced it was he who had discerned what MM was up to. One of our most knowledgeable ex-members, Povol iirc offered money for a date stamped comment from anyone about MM running his race at PI to disadvantage Rossi from prior to that Sepang presser.

Bottom line is of course that a race winning strategy is a race winning strategy, and the absolutely banzai last lap which won him the race quite likely could not have been matched by any other rider in history.

As I recall a female poster who was a psychologist posited that Valentino gave the appearance of having not slept for several days cogitating about the PI race, and was howled down, perhaps unfairly.

Yep, in simple terms he wasn't fast enough. I've also always said that Rossi, even in his prime, would not beat Marquez in his prime. I think the only guy of recent times who comes even close to him in terms of raw talent is Casey Stoner.

There are so many that I don’t think it is possible to count the number of championships that have been lost by various riders who managed to crash one too many times in a season.

Bern1 said:

There are so many that I don’t think it is possible to count the number of championships that have been lost by various riders who managed to crash one too many times in a season.

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Sure, but neither I nor anyone else can indulge in what ifs in regard to MM’s 2015 season, that he plain and simple rode stupidly that season is the bottom line, trying to dominate every lap of every race as he had done the previous season when he won 14 races including the first 10 consecutively iirc.

Whatever his reasons for riding the PI 2015 race the way he did, he in the end demonstrated not least to himself that there was a different way to win a race.

#22 said:

vimeo.com/168747629/comments

Go to 23 mins in. If you don't have motogp video pass.

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Thanks.
I liked Jorge in that.
"Did Marc help you in Phillip Island?"
"Yes, especially in the last lap".

Edit; already posted by you. I liked it too. The delivery was excellent.

Livio Suppo comments on the differences between Casey and Marc;

“Very similar in terms of speed and talent, totally different in terms of character,” Suppo replied.

“The capability of Marc to be always smiling and having a good relationship with people around him was something special. I don't think there was one day that Marc didn’t love [being a MotoGP rider]. He was always positive.

“Casey is a more complicated character, and that probably is the real reason why he decided to quit so early, because he was only 27.

“Clearly, if racing was such a demanding activity for him, in terms of mental stress and not being happy with what he was doing, I totally understand his choice.

“Of course, it was a pity because his talent was unbelievable and it would have been great to see Marc and Casey together on track, something that we never saw.”

Suppo confirmed the intention had been to place Marquez alongside Stoner for 2013, “But I think we cannot complain because the [Repsol Honda] team with Dani and Marc was anyway very strong for a few years.”

https://www.crash.net/motogp/featur...key-difference-between-marc-marquez-and-casey

After 2 days of testing, well 3 if you count Valencia, I'm not convinced he'll win the title anymore. I do think he is sandbagging a little bit but he hasn't put together a lap yet at Sepang that would make you go holy ..... It's almost like the Honda testing with where he is sitting on the overall timesheets.

JPSLotus said:

After 2 days of testing, well 3 if you count Valencia, I'm not convinced he'll win the title anymore. I do think he is sandbagging a little bit but he hasn't put together a lap yet at Sepang that would make you go holy ..... It's almost like the Honda testing with where he is sitting on the overall timesheets.

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It is a long season. New team, new crew chief, new bike. It is very early. The times that some guys are running are outrageous but not sustainable for more than a lap. I found Crafar's breakdown quite illuminating. I don't think he should be the favourite for title, that was always a little premature.

p4p1 said:

It is a long season. New team, new crew chief, new bike. It is very early. The times that some guys are running are outrageous but not sustainable for more than a lap. I found Crafar's breakdown quite illuminating. I don't think he should be the favourite for title, that was always a little premature.

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I hadn't seen anything about Crafar's breakdown. What is the summary of what he had to say?

JPSLotus said:

I hadn't seen anything about Crafar's breakdown. What is the summary of what he had to say?

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#22 said:

So, full transcript from ATF of what Simon Crafar said about Marc Marquez.

"He's obviously not got parts to test, because he is in a satellite team with no factory parts. But he's getting to know the GP23 Ducati and he's changing the bike, a lot. It's going up, and down, he exploring, which is what testing is for. To find out what works, what he likes.
Something I've noticed. Is, the riders that are up the top (of the timesheets), they'll head out on a soft rear and bang, do this time. The next run they do on that tyre, because they've taken so much life out of it, it's no longer in the 57's, it's in the 58's. And the next time they go out, it's in the 59's. Where Marc, hasn't been doing the time attacks, he's been trying to keep it in the 58's as long as possible. He'll do 3 runs out there, and they're very consistent while changing the bike so my impression is he's testing, which is what this is, not trying to time attack.
When I go out on track, the only place he is aggressive, the Marc that we know, is in the braking area. He is looking impressive. I predict he is going to be the hardest Ducati rider in the braking zone this year. Pecco has been, but he's been threatened by Martin and Enea, But I think Ducati are going to have a new braking area champion! But the rest, he's been doing very smooth and just consistent.
One more thing. The last turn, he's been doing it consistently wide, and it's not the sort of thing an 8 time world champion would do, always taking the last corner wide. So that, to me, points to sandbagging a little. Losing time consistently on one corner that he knows that he can just go 'bang' and the lap time will come down when he wants it after putting all the rest together and make everybody go like that (shocked). So it;s only my gut feeling. It doesn't mean I think he will win the first race yet, but I don't think we have really seen what he can do and he's genuinely working hard, to make friends which this bike. He's trying everything with Frankie Carchedi, everything from positions on the bike to all the normal geometry settings.

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p4p1 said:

It is a long season. New team, new crew chief, new bike. It is very early. The times that some guys are running are outrageous but not sustainable for more than a lap. I found Crafar's breakdown quite illuminating. I don't think he should be the favourite for title, that was always a little premature.

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Yes, and these guys are good.

Thanks Dub!

Marc's comment was he is trying to ride the Ducati like a Honda and needs to adapt to the rear grip that the Ducati provides. This ride style adaption challenge will be different at different circuits.

What we have seen in the test is that the GP24 is already faster than the GP23 at that circuit however I see Marc being competitive in the B group initially and I'm assuming that if the GP23 is competitive then it won't be too long before we see Marc having regular podiums. I'm not seeing Marc has winning the world championship but I'd like to see him win it, it would be a victory for tier 3 teams

JPSLotus said:

Thanks Dub!

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You're welcome! hahah.

Both Martin and Acosta feel that Marc will be at the front in Qatar. I've posted links in the 2024 warmup thread. Marc himself says he will get there but is still learning the bike. Mainly that on the Honda the time is gained on corner entry, but on the Ducati it is corner exit.

It's hard to tell where the GP23 will be relative to the GP24 right now (The 24 is certainly faster, because they wouldn't run it otherwise), but I think Marc is being calm and taking his time to get used to the bike. He knows when he is comfortable that he will be able to push. His race pace is already there, so it's the time attack that needs work.

I'm still sticking to my prediction of winning races and being in title contention.

When the flag drops, ........ stops

Cant ....... wait for it, winter brake is dragging on

ApriliaRS250 said:

When the flag drops, ........ stops

Cant ....... wait for it, winter brake is dragging on

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Posturing on the forum is all I have....

I think it will take a while for Marc to come up to his full potential on the bike, especially since the Ducati characteristics are so different to the Honda in terms of how to extract performance. He's even busy studying the other riders, commenting that Martin and Bastianini seem to extract performance from how they move on the bike but then the current champ is not moving so much and yet is quick. So he's busy analysing while undoing riding style habits. Should be interesting to see how he progresses.