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·@26_DaniPedrosa: “we’re about to start the weekend with good confidence”
Reigning World Champion Marc Márquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa share garage for fifth year together on the Repsol Honda Team.
Márquez has won in Qatar on two occasions: Once in Moto2 in 2012, and again in MotoGP in 2014.
Pedrosa has six podiums in Qatar -5 in the premier class and 1 in 250cc.
Marc Márquez has been World Champion (in 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP) whenever he has placed on the podium at the first race of the season.
Dani Pedrosa has gone 15 consecutive seasons with at least 1 victory per year (something that only one other rider -Valentino Rossi- has achieved).
Marc Márquez
The first race of the season is always a special one because you’re a bit more nervous than usual! The Qatar track is also one of the most special circuits on the calendar and one of the main things to consider is the sand, which can make the surface quite slippery as soon as you get out of the best line. The limit is very narrow. There are three very strong braking points and you need good front stability. Maybe it’s not one of the best tracks for my riding style, but I like it and we have worked very hard during the preseason to find a good rhythm and a good base setup for all circuits. From a technical point of view, we’re starting this Championship better than the last one, and although that doesn’t automatically mean that the results will be better, I think our machine has reached a level to fight for the podium. We’ll try to manage well from the beginning on Thursday
Dani Pedrosa
We worked well with the team during the entire preseason, including the last test here in Qatar, and little by little we improved our bike and our performance. There are still things we want to improve here and there but they never stop working in Japan, and we’ll also do our best to continue in a good direction. The track is very dusty and the place is quite windy, so the grip is generally not very very good. There’s a long long straight where we typically have a headwind and therefore you need a strong engine. It’s difficult to make any predictions for the race as the level of competition is very high, but we’re about to start the weekend with good confidence and the desire to do our best.
