Marc Marquez admits he will have his work cut out closing down Valentino Rossi’s championship lead at Mugello this weekend. The Spaniard trails Rossi by 33 points but with the series leader having won at Mugello seven times, and many of his other rivals also boasting impressive records there, Marquez knows he heads to Tuscany as the underdog.
“We are very motivated after the weekend in Le Mans and arrive in Italy in good shape. We must work hard from Friday to find a good setup as Mugello is a complicated circuit, however, I like it and have good memories from my first victory in 2010. We know Valentino will be very strong at his home race, Jorge and Dani have a good history there and Ducati were testing there just a few weeks ago, so we will have to be focused all weekend.”
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa made his return from injury at Le Mans but crashed out in the early stages, causing him to miss out on the points. The 29 year old took heart from his physical condition though and expects to be stronger this weekend.
“Even though we didn’t get a great race result, the outcome from the weekend in Le Mans was positive! The arm was better than I expected and now we head to Italy – after a further two weeks of recovery – looking to make another step. Mugello is a very fast track and you must work hard from the first session to find a good setup for this circuit. The fans always make this a special race so I hope I can do a good race for my fans and my team.”
