What was the strategy for the Phillip Island race?
It’s been a very difficult weekend, due to the unstable weather that made things very complicated. On the grid, Marc and Dani decided to start the race with the soft rear tire, and then they knew that they would have to manage the tire to finish the race with a good pace. As always here at Phillip Island there were many fast riders, so for almost all the race the main problem for Marc was to try to avoid “problems” in the leading group! Dani unfortunately ran wide at the beginning and lost the contact with the leading group, so it was a difficult race for him today.
Positive points and negative points after the race?
The positive is that Marc did a perfect job for the whole race! When there were only few laps to go, he was able to push and open a small gap, enough to win his sixth race of the season and increase his championship lead by 22 points. The negative was that Dani was struggling more than expected.
The view from the pit wall during the race?
We knew that Marc needed to save his tires, so we were not worried to see him not leading the first laps. Of course during the race, when the battle became very tough, we were a little bit nervous, because in those circumstances it is very easy to be involved in an accident! But finally it was a big relief to see him gain some margin and win the race! It was a pity to see Dani losing positions at the beginning due to a small mistake, but we were happy to see him fighting anyway and finishing in the points.
The weather conditions at both the Japanese and Australian GPs were unstable and both races were thrilling battles. In Japan Marc battled with a Ducati; here he battled with several Yamahas. What is Marc’s secret to be strong in any conditions and at any circuit?
Since Barcelona Marc has a great feeling with his RCV and this allows him to be competitive basically at every circuit and in all conditions. Of course, the main reason is his great talent, but we also need to give credit to his team and to the engineers at home that always work very hard to try to give him a bike he likes.
The inside story apart from your official comments?
After this morning’s warm-up former 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan came to see us in the garage and he had a chat with Marc and Dani. Watching them I realized that at that moment there were 13 world titles in our garage!
