Luca Marini has identified one area that Honda said was “impressed” with his performance, compared to Mark Marquez.
Marquez’s asymmetry in strength between the left and right corners has been well documented over the years in MotoGP, with 11 turns on carbon from Marco Simoncelli, the world circuit in Milan, perhaps the most notorious right-handed of the season.
Get closer with the sixth gear, the rider simply rolls the throttle and enters the corner, then returns to power once it reaches the maximum lean corner. There is almost no slowing down.
Luca Marini explained that this is the corner where he makes time compared to other times, and that Honda “had struggled with Mark and a lot of things every year.”
“Turn 11. I do a lot of corner speeds – more than anyone, certainly,” Marini said Saturday at the San Marino Grand Prix.
“At Honda, they were very impressed.
“Also, they’ve always been there in the past, so they had a lot of hard work with Mark (Marquez) every year, because they looked at my data and said, ‘Good job, good job.’ ”
He added: “I’m the strongest there along with Ducati. I like it.”
Marini admitted that the corner is “intimidating”, but that the bike is upset at this corner and that it must be accepted that it is normal.
It’s intimidating, but it depends on how you feel about it,” Honda HRC Castrol Rider said.
“It’s normal for you to go super fast, lose the front and all the laps happen the same way. Moto2 and beyond.
“The Moto2 race was like this for every lap. You go in, close the front and open the (throttle).
“I’m really strong every time on the right highway corner and every time on all the circuits. There’s something very fast here, so I feel good.”
Despite his confidence there, Marini says it’s not a corner you can push.
“Attack? No,” he said. “Yes, you get at least a tenth of the time during the lap.”
Marini went 7th in the race with Carbon as the Frenchman dropped from fourth to eighth, passing Fabio Cartalaro there.