'Perfect' conditions allowed Marc Márquez to break the Le Mans record

Marc Márquez had a perfect start to his weekend at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans, with a six-tenths lead over his closest rival. The Ducati rider simply set the fastest lap in the history of the Bugatti Circuit, in 1:29. The #855 driver believes the conditions during the afternoon session were the best possible, allowing him to put his name in the Sarthe record books, even before the "important" sessions, qualifying.

“The conditions were perfect today to break the track record. It wasn’t too cold or too hot, and so the track had very good grip. Seeing that I was able to do 1:30 on used tires, I knew that 7:1 was possible on new tires. And from the first Time Attack, I saw that it was possible, and on the second I took the medium tire on the rear to see.”, he said. Although he didn't go any faster with the medium (his best lap was with a hard at the front and a soft at the rear), he was able to gather some good information for the next two days.

After a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, the eight-time world champion recovered excellently on Monday, during the post-GP test day. Feelings so good that he showed up at Le Mans with the bike he used in that test, as well as a version closer to the one he used at the start of the season. He was able to switch between the two without any problems this Friday, with very similar sensations, which delighted his engineers.

“I set the fastest time on the same bike as in the Jerez tests. The sensations were very similar between the two bikes; I was jumping from one to the other, and the lap times were similar. That was the objective of the change we made. We didn't want to change the sensations for the rider, but the engineers are convinced that they can unlock more performance in the future with this change. Why, I don't know, but that's what they're telling me! I'm trying this because for now I have good sensations and they're the same with both bikes.”

Márquez learned he had to be 'more careful'

Despite having a near-perfect start to the season (eight wins in ten races), Marc Márquez hasn't arrived at Le Mans in the championship lead. This is due to two races at the Grand Prix of the Americas and the Spanish Grand Prix, which allowed his brother Álex to lead the way. The older brother has a specific reason for these crashes, and it might seem surprising. He's simply so comfortable on his machine that he sometimes forgets he's riding at a breakneck pace, sometimes close to or faster than the track records!

“I learned that I have to be more careful. I feel extremely comfortable, almost as if I couldn't crash! But you have to realize that we're riding very fast. On the other hand, I feel really fluid on the bike, the lap times are coming in the right way. It's hard to explain, in fact I didn't really feel the speed I was going at, I was relaxing a little too much. I have to be careful, because we broke the track record today, so we have to approach Sunday's race with more caution, especially since I've had two crashes in these long races already this year. There was a reason for each of the two crashes this year, each time it was a mistake on my part. First in Austin, I cut the kerb too much, and in Jerez I didn't realize that there were two bikes in front of me and so I should have braked a little earlier otherwise I would have arrived at the apex faster. I have to be careful when I'm behind someone."

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Comments collected by Michaël Duforest, in Le Mans.