Метка: Marc Marquez

Ducati won’t make 2025 factory MotoGP seat decision at Mugello

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO



Over the last few weeks, Ducati management has suggested that it wants to make a decision on who partners Bagnaia in 2025 by the Mugello race.

Coming into this weekend’s seventh round of the year, it appears the decision is between championship leader Jorge Martin and eight-time grand prix world champion Marc Marquez.

While a decision is expected soon, Ducati has told Motorsport.com’s Spanish edition that an announcement will have to wait.

“We have never said that we are going to announce it at Mugello,” said a Ducati representative.

“What we have always said is that, from Mugello onwards, we will begin to outline what the decision is.”

Ducati’s general manager Gigi Dall’Igna noted: “The decision will come soon, but then contracts are always complicated and negotiations can take longer than expected.

“We will need time to apply the idea, make it a reality and then communicate it to the public.”

 

Ducati’s sporting director Mauro Grassilli, when speaking to Italian TV, added: “The decision is as difficult as at the beginning of the championship.

“We are already beginning to lay some important foundations and we are on the right path. But there will be no announcement in Mugello.”

In an ideal world, Ducati will promote Martin to the factory team while Marquez – who has softened to the idea in recent weeks – would take his place at Pramac with full factory support.

However, this situation is not as easy as it seems. With Martin being passed over for a factory team seat in favour of Enea Bastianini for last year, he sees no other option to remain at Ducati other than replacing Bastianini in 2025.

But there are other factors at play, such as the financial packages Ducati would have to stump up to afford both Martin and Marquez, who sits third in the standings just six rounds into his first season on the 2023-spec Gresini-run Desmosedici.

Then there is the marketing factor, with Marquez surely holding much more weight in this regard than Martin.

Though an announcement won’t come at Mugello, a decision being made at the Italian GP – as far as Pramac team boss Gino Borsoi is concerned – would be the ideal time for all parties.

This is because Pramac needs to communicate with Yamaha in Italy if it wants to press ahead with a satellite deal for 2025, or continue with a two-year renewal as Ducati’s only factory-supported customer squad.

What happens here will also have ramifications for VR46 Racing and Gresini, which are also Ducati satellite squads but don’t have factory bikes.

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Marquez “not proud” of recent MotoGP comebacks after latest podium

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Gresini Ducati rider failed to get out of Q1 two weeks ago at the French GP but managed to recover from 13th on the grid to finish second in both the sprint and grand prix at Le Mans.

At this weekend’s Catalan GP, Marquez qualified a lowly 14th due to difficulties in extracting the best from fresh soft rubber but recovered to second in the sprint and third on Sunday.

But speaking after the grand prix, Marquez says he is “not proud” of his recent fightbacks because it means it’s the result of “some mistakes”.

“I’m not proud about it, especially because if you make that comeback, it means that it’s coming from some mistakes,” he said.

“But apart from that, starting from that 14th position, I feel like it forced me to start on that soft rear option.

“I don’t know if it was better or worse, but in the end, I had that extra grip in the first laps to overtake the riders and in the end it was difficult, but even like this I caught the Aprilia guys on the medium and I had something more.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez was one of only four riders to gamble on the soft rear tyre but noted that he had some “guarantees” that it would go the 24-lap distance if he rode it correctly.

“I said to my team, ‘give me the medium from the warm-up to do the sighting lap, if I don’t have a good feeling I will put on the soft’,” he added.

“On that sighting lap, the feeling was not good and then I put the soft on.

“We know and we had some guarantees and we analysed that the soft rear was on the limit, but was able to finish the race. We managed in a good way.

“In the end, I suffered a lot to keep Aleix behind, but also he was suffering with that medium.”

Marquez sits third in the standings and is only 41 points behind Jorge Martin following the Catalan GP.

While he accepts he is a “contender” in the title race, it’s only because he sits third right now and this, he feels, is his “real position” on current form.

“Of course, we are a contender. Why? Because we are third in the championship after six races already,” Marquez said.

“But, we are third. And it’s our real position because there are two guys who are a bit faster.

“If we want to fight with them especially, we need to improve the qualifying.

“I know that being on the podium here in Montmelo is super special and super important because it’s one of those circuits that I hate.

“But apart from that, when I say it’s a difficult circuit for me I never give up and I try to do double work to work better.”

How many positions has Marquez made up in the last four races?

Starting from 13th at the French GP and 14th at Barcelona, Marquez has made up 45 positions.

Breaking this down further, Marquez’s race progression was:

French GP sprint – Starts 13th

Lap 1 – 13th to 4th

Lap 4 – 4th to 3rd

Lap 10 – 3rd to 2nd

French GP – Starts 13th

Lap 1 – 13th to 8th

Lap 3 – 8th to 6th

Lap 11 – 6th to 5th

Lap 14 – 5th to 4th

Lap 18 – 4th to 3rd

Lap 27 – 3rd to 2nd

Catalan GP sprint – Starts 14th

Lap 1 – 14th to 8th

Lap 3 – 8th to 7th

Lap 5 – 7th to 6th

Lap 7 – 6th to 4th

Lap 12 – 4th to 2nd

Catalan GP – Starts 14th

Lap 1 – 14th to 10th

Lap 3 – 10th to 8th

Lap 11- 8th to 6th

Lap 12 – 6th to 5th

Lap 18 — 5th to 4th

Lap 21 – 4th to 3rd

Watch: Pecco bounces back in Barcelona! | 2024 #CatalanGP

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Why MotoGP comeback king Marquez is struggling in qualifying lately

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Gresini Ducati rider is quickly adapting himself from the Honda he rode for 11 years to the GP23 he has now, scoring podiums in four of the six sprints and twice in the previous two grands prix.

But his last three weekend podiums have come after being forced to fight back from poor qualifying results, with his brace of runner-up spots in France happening after he started 13th.

At Barcelona this weekend, Marquez once again fell into Q1 after Friday’s practice and again failed to break into Q2, this time qualifying 14th.

It’s the first time since Britain and Austria last year that he has missed Q2 on successive occasions.

Speaking to the media on Saturday after carving through to second in the Catalan GP sprint, Marquez says he is struggling for speed on new rubber and it’s been an issue since pre-season testing.

“I mean, just it’s that when I pass two, three laps on the tyre I feel better,” he began.

“And we need to understand why. In Le Mans I was a bit with the same feeling, and here [at Barcelona] again.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I mean, when it’s completely new tyres I’m struggling. I was struggling a lot already in the pre-season.

“Then I was able to compensate a bit in the first races, but then again now I’m struggling with new tyres and it’s something that we need to work on very deeply because if we start on the first two rows, or first three rows, it’s another race.

“When you start 14th, you are very penalised on your race strategy. At the moment we are able to save, but it’s too much risk.”

Marquez added that his feeling on his new soft rear at the start of the 12-lap sprint on Saturday “was terrible” and felt close to crashing.

“First two laps, the feeling was terrible,” he said.

“And then I felt like I would lose the front in some areas. In fact, in the first two laps I was even struggling to follow [Enea] Bastianini who was in front of me.

“But then on the third lap I started to feel the potential and then I started to attack the others.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“The most important thing is that the race, if you struggle three laps you have 20 laps in front.

“But I don’t like this feeling, because in the qualifying practice, you need to have that potential.

“If not, you cannot do anything and it’s there where we need to improve.

“It’s true that we need to improve a lot the Fridays. Because with today’s lap time I was starting on the third row. Still, this is acceptable on a circuit where I struggle.”

Marquez noted that a considerable set-up change for Saturday led to his strong sprint race form, though he admitted the lack of familiarity on his altered bike contributed to his Q1 exit.

“I mean, bike set-up we changed quite a lot,” he explained.

“It’s one of the good things to have fast Ducati riders inside the group.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“You analyse, sometimes they analyse and go in my direction, and this time we analyse where we were, we analysed where they are and we went a bit on that direction and I started to feel better.

“The problem of Q1 was it was the first time attack with that set-up and it was very different.

“But on the race pace, I kept going and I understood how to ride that bike because it was a big change.

“Too late because tomorrow we start 14th, but the race is long and with the medium rear tyre let’s see how we can manage.”



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Marquez expected to face “nightmare” Q1 at Barcelona MotoGP

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Gresini Ducati rider was expected to fight for a first MotoGP win on the Desmosedici coming to Barcelona after back-to-back grand prix podiums at Jerez and Le Mans.

But he downplayed this ahead of the weekend as Barcelona has typically been a weaker track for the six-time MotoGP world champion, who has only won twice in the premier class at the circuit.

On Friday, having finished second in FP1, Marquez struggled to 12th in the afternoon session – missing the top 10 by just under a tenth of a second — and must go through Q1 again having done so last time out in France.

Commenting on what went wrong, Marquez said: “What happened is what we expected.

“Of course we tried to avoid, but we expected that we would struggle here in Barcelona.

“We struggled less than what we expected, because on the race pace and with the medium tyre I feel ok.

“But it’s true that on that time attack, we lose just for one tenth that Q2. But tomorrow will be the worst practice, nightmare practice [Q1] of the weekend.”

Marquez noted that he is struggling under braking on the GP23 in Barcelona, which has been a common complaint all year for those on that model of Ducati.

He also believes both his riding style and the bike must be looked at overnight to find an improvement.

“I mean, of course my style is ‘special’, which is working in most of the tracks,” he added.

“But there are three, four tracks on the calendar that it works less.

“So, the good thing is that it’s only three, four tracks. But we need to understand well tomorrow.

“This morning I go out and I felt super good. But this afternoon for some reason, in the third run I felt not so good. But this morning the riding style was working well. So, we need to work on both aspects.”

Marquez failed to get out of Q1 at Le Mans but was able to rise from 13th on the grid to finish second in both races at the French GP.

Asked if his situation on Friday at Barcelona was better or worse than at Le Mans, he said the fact his team knew what went wrong in France – which was a set-up change that didn’t work – is a key difference compared to now.

He also put doubts on a similar climb through the field to the one he demonstrated at Le Mans for Saturday’s sprint, with Marquez only convinced he has pace good enough to finish between fifth and seventh.

“Depends on qualifying practice, but if we can have a good qualifying practice and start on that third row, for example, our potential is to be in fifth, sixth, seventh at the moment,” he added.

“Not better, but it’s a good result here in Montmelo because it looks like KTM and Aprilia here are working better.

“But it’s a different race track and you need to find a balance for the whole calendar. So, yeah, here we are struggling more than on the other tracks but we are not far.”

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Why Marquez is the key to Pramac’s continuation with Ducati in MotoGP

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Pramac has until the summer to unilaterally validate the agreement that would allow it to remain the only team with full factory support from Ducati in 2025 and 2026. Renewing the agreement would maintain its current conditions, so that the two riders in its line-up would be hired directly by the Bologna factory, and both would have the latest generation of Desmosedici that are identical to those of the two riders in the official workshop.

That privileged position, which currently gives access to the best bikes on the grid, was in danger of being blown to bits when Yamaha entered the scene. In the Japanese manufacturer’s eagerness to regain the satellite team it has not had since the end of 2022, it presented Pramac owner Paolo Campinoti with a very tempting offer.

After being turned down by VR46, which had always been Yamaha’s first choice as a future partner, the Iwata-based company entered into negotiations with Pramac. A member of the Japanese team, who expects an answer around the Italian GP at Mugello, told told Motorsport.com at Le Mans: «Our first alternative was always VR46, but we couldn’t convince them. So plan B is Pramac, and we hope they will accept the offer we have made them.» 

Pramac has, on the one hand, the possibility of continuing with Ducati in 2025-26 with a deadline on this decision expiring in July. The benefits offered by the Yamaha route are interesting for a satellite team, but the sporting aspect detracts a lot considering the M1 package’s current lack of competitiveness.

The competition between Pramac and VR46 to become Ducati’s preferred team was the main reason why Campinoti sat down to listen to Yamaha’s offer. He has been seriously considering it, understanding that he will struggle to keep the current agreement conditions with Ducati beyond 2026.

Could Campinoti end Pramac's relationship with Ducati to join forces with Yamaha?

Could Campinoti end Pramac’s relationship with Ducati to join forces with Yamaha?

Photo by: Mark Sutton

Another factor that jeopardises the Ducati relationship that made Pramac the best team in 2023, plus Jorge Martin the runner-up and current leader of the championship, is the Italian manufacturer’s firm decision to reduce spending on the salaries of its riders. The signing of Fermin Aldeguer for 2025, with a base salary of around €300,000, is the maximum exponent of this philosophy.

The change paints a discouraging picture for Campinoti, who saw himself in 2025 with Franco Morbidelli and Aldeguer, as Martin looks set to move to a factory squad next year.

Until last week, Campinoti’s chances were 50/50 between staying with Ducati or leaving for Yamaha. But something happened at Le Mans that has raised it to almost 95% to staying with the Borgo Panigale squad.

With Ducati’s new salary policy and with Bagnaia renewed until 2026, Ducati only has the budget to pay two high salaries

Marc Marquez, who is in his first season racing on a Ducati for the Gresini team and who has needed only five races to reach the competitive level of Martin and world champion Francesco Bagnaia (both on factory bikes) despite riding a 2023 machine, left Jerez two weeks ago saying that next year he wanted to ride for a factory team, and that red was his preferred choice.

«Pramac is a good team, but it is not official,» he said at the time.

In France, however, the Spaniard changed his stance, opening the door to race in a satellite squad, as long as he could have the best material and support from a factory.

«As I am competitive, it is clear that next year I want to try to have the latest evolution available,» he said on Sunday, having charged from 13th on the grid to second place in both races. «Whatever bike and whatever colour it is, but the latest specification.»

Ducati has already informed Campinoti that it is working on the possibility of adding Marquez to the rider roster (at present he is only under contract with Gresini), and giving him a top bike. This has changed the scenery overnight.

Marc Marquez wants a factory bike and Pramac could be the perfect scenario for Ducati

Marc Marquez wants a factory bike and Pramac could be the perfect scenario for Ducati

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

There is only enough budget for one more rider

With Ducati’s new salary policy and with Bagnaia renewed until 2026, Ducati only has the budget to pay two high salaries: that of the current champion, with a base of around €6 million, and that of his future garage neighbour. At only 26 years of age and with a salary — paid by Ducati — just under €4 million, Martin is not willing to lower his demands now that he is at the peak of his career.

The Madrid-born rider has already informed the executives of the red bikes that after the Italian GP on 2 June, if he does not have the contract with the official team on the table, he will sit down with KTM. The Austrian marque has already shown interest in getting him back, following their stint together in Moto2.

For Marquez, joining the factory team would mean having to give up most of his personal sponsors, since they conflict with many of those of Ducati’s factory squad. What he would improve in salary he would lose with his sponsors, some of them important agreements and with many years of relationship, such as Red Bull, Oakley or Allianz.

Having done the maths and with general manager Gigi Dall’Igna’s promise to offer the same treatment as the two official riders, Marquez’s change of stance at Le Mans could very well respond to this reflection. Moreover, if we understand that Martin will only consider staying at Ducati if it is in the factory garage, the only formula the Italian manufacturer has to keep the two Spaniards is that. Otherwise, either #89 or #93 will be welcomed by a rival brand.

Yamaha can’t find a dance partner

The big loser in this puzzle is Yamaha. The return to having a satellite team it lost at the end of 2022 by not extending its agreement with RNF, which aligned with Aprilia, was one of the arguments that the struggling Japanese marque used to encourage 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo to renew until the end of 2026.

VR46’s refusal does not leave much room for manoeuvre. Plan B is Pramac, from which it expects an answer at Mugello.

«There is no plan C,» an executive of the Gerno di Lesmo-based team told Motorsport.com. «We are hopeful that Pramac will accept our offer, which is very interesting. Otherwise we don’t have an alternative in mind.»

With all the above in mind, it would not be unreasonable to think that Yamaha will be forced to continue in 2025 with only its two factory M1s on the grid. That will be despite the efforts of team boss Lin Jarvis, who wanted to leave his post with the two main objectives of his final seasons — Quartararo’s contract renewal and the recovery of a satellite squad — completed.

Yamaha is facing another season without a satellite team

Yamaha is facing another season without a satellite team

Photo by: Marc Fleury

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Marquez ‘still missing something’ to fight for 2024 MotoGP title

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


After five rounds on the year-old Ducati, Marquez has scored two grand prix podiums and three sprint rostrums.

His latest brace of podiums at the French Grand Prix came as he fought back from 13th on the grid, with the eight times world champion finishing second in both races at Le Mans.

In the grand prix, he was just 0.446 seconds away from beating Jorge Martin and moved up to third in the standings at 40 points adrift.

While reigning double world champion Francesco Bagnaia believes the top three at Le Mans after the grand prix will be the main title fighters in 2024, Marquez thinks he is not yet at that level.

«I’m just enjoying. You can see it on my face,» he told MotoGP’s After the Flag. «You see all what we have inside the box, the atmosphere is relaxed.

«We started 13th but it was no panic. OK, we know that to fight for a championship you need to be on the level like Martin and Pecco.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Marc Fleury

«They are all the practice in the top positions. Still, we are… for example this weekend we learned something on that Friday afternoon, that we chose the wrong direction [with bike set-up].

«So, we’ve learned for the future. But we need to understand that still we miss something to fight for the championship.

«But for me, I’m super happy to fight with the two top guys inside Ducati.»

With Marquez’s form on the bike coming as Ducati nears a decision on who will ride its second factory team bike in 2025.

The Spaniard told Sky Italy at Le Mans that he is looking for a works spec bike for 2025 and suggested it doesn’t matter where he rides for that to happen. 

«When I made this decision, I knew that Ducati was the strongest bike,» he said of leaving Honda.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Marc Fleury

«I decided to race with the strongest bike and see what I was capable of doing because even I had the doubt whether I was finished or not.

«Now, I am competitive. Since I am, clearly next year I want to try to have the latest evolution, any bike, any colour, any brand.

«Because to fight for the world championship you have more opportunities. But I have clear ideas.»

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Marquez was «completely exhausted” when he reached Le Mans MotoGP win fight

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The Gresini Ducati rider endured a tough qualifying which saw him knocked out in Q1, though he recovered brilliantly in the sprint to finish second.

Marquez did the same again on Sunday, though took 17 laps to get into the podium places before closing down a two-second gap to catch eventual winner Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

While finishing second after a last lap overtake on Bagnaia, Marquez admitted afterwards that he was “not convinced” he could fight for the win once he reached the leaders.

“Today I was not convinced, because when I arrived to them, I was completely exhausted,” Marquez said, scoring a second grand prix podium of 2024 on Gresini’s 1000th GP.

“I was pushing all the race, no time to relax, and then I arrived to them and I tried to attack.

“But then I said ‘hmm, I’m not feeling well now on the bike’.

“And I saw also Pecco had a good acceleration. So, it was difficult to find the point to overtake because also he was defending well on Turn 3.

“But on that last lap I said ‘I will be there to see if something happens’.

“I saw Pecco was not attacking Martin, so I go out well from that Turn 8 and in Turn 9 I tried. I was able to stop well.”

Marquez believes he would have stood a better chance at winning the French GP had he not got caught up in a “strange” battle for third with VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio.

“That fight on those laps was strange because you need to understand sometimes which part of the race you are, and if some rider is coming from the back you cannot lose two seconds there because we lost 1.5s in that chicane with a contact; I had the position already,” he added.

“But I forget [this battle afterwards] and I kept going, and we did an amazing pace.

“It’s true that without that battle I had more chance because I would have more laps behind them. But that second place, today, was more than better.”

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Marquez “angry with myself” after Le Mans MotoGP Q1 exit

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The eight-time world champion endured a difficult French GP weekend on the Gresini-run Ducati prior to Saturday’s 13-lap sprint.

Out of the Q2 places after Friday’s running, Marquez was knocked out of Q1 in qualifying and starts 13th for both races at Le Mans.

Despite this, he was able to launch his way up to fifth off the line in Saturday’s 13-lap sprint and went on to finish second having made an improvement with bike set-up.

Speaking about his qualifying, Marquez said: “Q1. I’m angry with myself because I was not convinced in Q1.

“Yesterday, we did a mistake together with the team, taking a lot of risks going in a different direction in the set-up of both bikes for the practice and we were out of that Q2.

“And then in Q1, I was not convinced.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez suffered a huge scare going through the fast Turns 1/2 right-hander late in Q1 when he lost the front while chasing Ducati’s Enea Bastianini – the Spaniard avoiding a big incident.

He says this was down to him feeling “uncomfortable” riding in a tow on qualifying laps on the Ducati and says this, rather than any late yellow flags for crashes, was the main reason for his Q1 exit.

“In that first corner, and I say to you in the past, behind somebody on this bike I feel more uncomfortable,” he explained.

“And is exactly what happened. I learned about it. I could say later that yellow flags [hindered me].

“But that was not the reason. The reason was my mistake.

“That moment [at Turn 2], one time I was looking at the wall. But luckily [Jack] Miller crashed before a few years ago and there was a run-off area [installed] but without that run-off area it was a dangerous moment.”

On the opening lap of the sprint, Marquez went from 13th to fifth after the first few corners and overtook Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales for fourth at Turn 11.

While acknowledging how good his launch of the line was, it was the pace afterwards as he closed down second-placed Marco Bezzecchi before the VR46 rider crashed that made him happiest.

“On the actual MotoGP, yes, because now with all the holeshot devices and all these things it’s super difficult to make the difference on the start because every rider, every manufacturer starts in a good way,” he said when asked if that was his best start ever.

“But yeah, it’s true that it was a good start – a combination of concentration, luck, risk, instinct.

“This is what the people speak more [about] but for me the most important thing was the pace after that.

“The pace after that was something that was not there all weekend, and in the sprint race I was able to ride in a constant way, in a good way, and this makes me happier even if I finished fourth or fifth.”

On the gains made with the bike, Marquez added: “It was coming back to our base and then of course understanding where the other Ducatis were, especially [Jorge] Martin and [Francesco] Bagnaia, what they were doing here in this race track.

“We go a bit on that direction and we adjusted the electronics on this base set-up and for the sprint race we did a big step on that point on the electronics.

“And this helped me a lot to be smoother.”

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Marquez explains worst Friday of 2024 MotoGP season in France

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The Gresini Ducati rider crashed in the hour-long afternoon practice at Le Mans and struggled for pace through to the chequered flag.

His penultimate flying lap in the session was thwarted by a yellow flag, before a mistake while fastest through the first sector on his last effort consigned him to 13th and a place in Q1.

Marquez says this was the first Friday practice since jumping on the Ducati where «it was difficult» for him and says his problems stem from a lack of feeling from the rear of his bike.

«This is the first Friday it was difficult, and the other Fridays were quite easy, pace was good, was easy to be in Q2,» he said.

«But it’s true that it’s the first Friday we struggled more and it can happen.

«So, now it’s time to react and try to understand what we did, where I struggle more on my riding style and try to improve for tomorrow.

«I’m struggling because I’m pushing too much on the front because I don’t feel the rear. So, we need to understand how to feel better on the rear.

«This bike especially you need to feel a lot or you need to take a lot of potential from the rear. If not, you will struggle, so it’s what happened today.»

Marquez’s crash at Turn 12 in second practice was the first he’s had on the Ducati that could be blamed on overriding.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«Today was the first crash for overriding,» he said. «You can see the image, I was fighting against the bike. I was not smooth enough, I was not clean on the lines and in that crash, I leant too much.

«I was struggling to keep the lines and then I leant too much. So, we need to understand well and try to understand tomorrow the way to improve.»

The Spaniard tried a set-up direction in FP1 that proved effective, but suggests his Gresini team may need to revert to his standard settings for Saturday after his struggles in second practice.

Asked if there was a big difference between his two bikes following his crash, he said: «No, it was very similar between first bike, second bike.

«Was a big difference compared to this morning. This morning, we tried one thing and we decided to go in that direction.

«Now we will have some question marks and then maybe we need to make a step back and try to understand better for tomorrow, because it’s true that this morning I go out in the first run and I feel OK, was the best run maybe on the riding style and I was smoother.

«So, let’s see what we need to do.»

He also batted away suggestions that the rumours surrounding his future were acting as a distraction at Le Mans.

«I’m already 13 years, 14 years in MotoGP,» he said. «So, I don’t feel that pressure. [It’s] the first Friday that we struggle, and this can happen and now it’s time to react.

«I don’t expect to struggle here in Le Mans, but it can happen. So, we need to understand where we are losing and what we need to do.»

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