Analysis – Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! –

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Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes Marquez can drive even faster !

Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

The team manager of the official Honda-Repsol MotoGP team, Alberto Puig, gives an extremely positive assessment of Marc Marquez’s 2018 MotoGP season, which sealed his seventh motorcycle Grand Prix world title with a victory in Japan.

Alberto Puig can rub his hands as his son comes to an end: Marc Marquez flew over the 2018 season to clinch the driver’s title with a large lead at Motegi, on the winged crest’s own circuit. So much so that Honda currently leads the "constructors" championship with 47 points ahead of Ducati and the team classification with an advantage of 51 units over Yamaha..

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Another reason for satisfaction for the former Spanish driver: to replace his former colt Dani Pedrosa, decided after a phone call from "Jorgueil" at the time of the French GP. In 2019, Alberto Puig will lead the two fastest riders on the grid, within the most powerful team, at the helm of the benchmark bike … Interesting prospects, no ?!

But before looking ahead to the next season – and the between Marquez-Lorenzo! -, Puig looks back on the excellent campaign carried out by Marc Marquez. The very austere fifty-something, not known to have the easy compliment, paints the admiring portrait of a pilot whose phenomenal talent has not yet reached its limits…

"Marc is not yet at his peak"

"Marc is an exceptional driver: young and intelligent, he knows how to handle situations. He has always been a precocious person (at 25 years and 231 days old, Marquez is the youngest seven-time world champion in history, Editor’s note), continues to progress – especially strategically – and in my opinion, it is not yet at its peak ", describes the manager of the HRC – below right – interviewed on the Movistar TV channel. 

Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

"I think he can take it one step further and go even faster. But what I love most about him is that he may be a champion, he remains a very accessible, humble and who listens to you ", continues Alberto Puig … who must doubtless be wondering if a certain Lorenzo will behave in the same way next year !

His perspective on Marquez is invaluable insofar as the team leader himself drove in the premier class from 1994 to 1997. Winner of the 1995 Spanish GP – his one and only Grand Prix victory – Puig is on the rise in 500 cc when a fall at Le Mans (72) seriously damaged his left leg. Two years later, at the end of 1997, the Spanish retired with a certain bitterness…

"If we win it is not by chance, especially if it is repeated"

With his own experience, the leader of the Honda factory team can accurately and acutely measure the level needed to dominate MotoGP as Marquez is currently doing. Puig is well positioned to gauge the workload and mental toughness required to shine – and stay – in the firmament of motorcycle racing. 

Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

"In the competition, it’s no accident that you win, especially if it happens over the weekends," he confirms. "Marc’s victory at Buriram was just as striking for me, because it was important for him to say to Andrea: today it’s me who beats you", analyzes the manager, referring to the maneuver carried out by Marquez to win over Dovizioso in the last corner of the .

According to Puig, an option for the title had already been asked at the Spanish GP, won by Marquez ahead of Zarco: "Jerez is the race that made the difference because it gives the equivalent of 25 points to its rivals ", he recalls. Recall that this fourth race of the season was marked by the triple fall of Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Dovizioso while Rossi and Viñales had respectively finished 5th and 7th with a lot of delay..

Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

"Marc also surpassed himself on circuits where he usually struggled," continued Alberto Puig. "Let’s say he’s tried to strike a balance between taking risks and what he can improve. I put him a 10!"

With thirteen podiums in fifteen races contested to date, Marc Marquez has indeed achieved a season as prolific as it is regular, a quality that he may have lacked in particular in 2015. The five-time MotoGP world champion has only two blank results this season: in following his demotion and where he sinned by excess of optimism.

"It’s a phenomenon!"

The n ° 93 would therefore have managed to channel its old demons and its tendency to always pilot on the wire without measuring the risks? However, Marquez has not abandoned his spectacular, even extreme style: evidenced by his eighteen falls (18!) Currently recorded during the tests and the countless number of "catches" of which he is accustomed.. 

"There are riders who, when they feel like leaving, let go of the bike," says Alberto Puig. "Him not at all: he tries at all costs to catch up with her! And that’s also what explains his consistency. He’s a special boy. If I worked for another team, I would say exactly the same thing to you: c ‘is a phenomenon! "

Marquez, also the first driver in GP history to win at least five races per season for eight years, also knows how to show strategy: in Japan, the Honda driver turned the situation to his advantage by exerting intense pressure on Andrea Dovizioso, while the reverse was expected as the No. 93 played his first match point for the world title !

 Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

"Regarding the fall of Andrea, I would say that Marc somehow pushed him to the fault", analyzes Alberto Puig who had however warned his pilot that it was "not necessarily necessary to win the title on Sunday: the it was all about winning it at one point or another ". But this defensive approach was not to Marquez’s liking !

"Honda has worked hard this winter"

Marc Marquez’s consistency at the forefront and his eight victories to date are not, however, only the fruit of his talent: the competitiveness of his motorcycle also plays a major role. The RC213V has become both more homogeneous and permissive: as n ° 93 points out, Honda has sacrificed a few points in pure performance to progress on all types of circuits.

Analysis - Alberto Puig, HRC team manager, believes that Marquez can drive even faster! -

"The work done during the winter was really decisive," confirms Alberto Puig. "Realizing the progress made on the Ducati side, Honda engineers really went the extra mile. And it showed: this bike was even better than last season’s.".

However, this success does not encourage Alberto Puig and his men to rest on their laurels, well aware that the competition also continues to improve. Especially on the Ducati side, analyzes the Honda-HRC team manager who sees very well – like everyone else – that Yamaha, the historic rival, is and has been overtaken by the Desmosedici in Bologna … or even by the Suzuki in certain races. !

“A few years ago, Japanese manufacturers were clearly above the competition,” Puig recalls. "But the European brands have made great strides: the championship is more and more tight, but even like that Marc makes the difference", notes the management in a last compliment addressed to his star driver !

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