Marc Marquez believes he is not the fastest MotoGP rider in this weekend's Thailand Grand Prix, despite topping Friday practice with a new lap record.
Returning to the scene of his sixth and most recent MotoGP World Championship title victory in 2019, Marquez was in slick form throughout the day en route to the overall top spot in Friday afternoon’s P2 session.
Stopping the clock at 1m29.165s on the Gresini Ducati, his effort was enough to edge out championship Jorge Martin by just over a tenth of a second and lower the erstwhile lap record.
Coming after he notched up his third victory of the season in Phillip Island less than a week ago, a buoyant Marquez is keen to make that precursor to achieving his objective of improving his qualifying performances.
However, Marquez suggested that practice results did not provide a true picture of the pecking order, insisting that riders like Pramac's Martin again hesitated from showing their true pace on Friday.
“I’m happy to have started the weekend in this way, which is important,” he said. “It’s true that the pace is good, it’s not the fastest one like in Australia.
“I think Martin is faster than us and [Enea] Bastianini, when he is fast on Friday it means that he will be super fast all weekend, but let’s see what we can do.”
The positive opener leaves Marquez optimistic of a similar challenge towards the sharp end in qualifying, an area where the Spaniard has struggled for consistency in his first season racing Ducati machinery.
The 31-year-old has qualified on the front row only three time since the summer break, with an average starting position of 6.25 during this period.
“I have the potential that from the initial moment I am riding very fast,” he added. “In the first part of the season I was always struggling on the Friday and I’d improve a lot over the weekend.
“Now I am starting Friday with a good pace so the way to improve is safe. Already the lap record, so if I can do a 1m 29.1s [in qualifying] I will sign up for it.”
Marquez is keeping a lid on his expectations for Saturday's qualifying session, saying he will be happy as long as he is able to qualify inside the first two rows on the grid.
“Here everyone is pushing and trying to get the maximum,” he said.
“Both Martin and Pecco Bagnaia are raising the bar very high, but we also have our personal battle between me and Enea Bastianini and that, for my part at least, leads me to take quite a few risks to try to be there with them.
“I had a very good lap and it's really positive to start a Friday like this. But tomorrow is the day we have to set a clear and realistic goal, which is to try to be on the second row.”
Marquez remains the only rider to score a grand prix victory on last year's Ducati GP23 bike in a season that has been dominated by the latest iteration of the Desmosedici.
While a fourth victory would make 2024 his most successful season since 2019, he reiterated that his goal is to build on his recent results and put himself in the best possible position for his year with the factory Ducati team.
“Obviously the more victories the better, but it is an irrelevant fact, which you remember now because I am there, but otherwise nobody remembers [in the future],” he said.
“Obviously if I can win four races it is better than three, but the important thing is to continue with this consistency that I am showing, since Austria I have taken a small step and I am confirming it in all the circuits I go to.”
