MotoGP one shots

Marc Marquez- Enemies

Signing for the pramac team and getting to race in MotoGP was something I'd dreamed of for many years and I was so excited about it but it has turned out to be my worst nightmare. You see when I got to race once in the class as a replacement rider I managed to make an enemy without really trying who has been ruining my life now that I'm here permanently. I thought that I was racing well and being respectful of everyone there at the time but clearly Marc Marquez didn't agree or found some other reason to dislike me because now he really seems to hate me. Even when I went back to moto2 I was always hearing his opinion on my racing and he seemed to be friends with everyone else but me which was really frustrating as I just wanted to be civil with him I mean we didn't have to be friends but no he chose enemies. That didn't change one bit when I moved to MotoGP if anything it got worse as it always seems like he pulls silly manoeuvres just on me during races or will pull up behind me when doing practice starts just to psych me out.

Last season I let him get the best of me towards the end and said and did some stupid things which I really regret but I'm determined not to do the same this season. I have moved up to the factory Ducati team this year after doing pretty well last season and I'm determined to show them what I can do and prove that it was the right decision to give me the ride. So far this season I've done pretty well not finishing outside the top 10 apart from one time the brakes broke and I had to jump off the bike and getting a few podiums but it's been a struggle to adapt to the bike as it has so many different features but recently I feel like I've been doing better especially as I was just a tenth off the win at the last race. At this race I'm determined to finally get my first win with the team and get them some good points for the championship.

Typically this weekend we are at Sachsenring where both me and Marc are really good. The team have been telling me not to have expectations as the track isn't really suited to the bike but I'm determined to do well here and show Marc that he has some serious competition. Since I moved to Ducati me and Marc have become each other main rivals as we both end up on about the same lap times and roughly in the same positions in the race and now he's just a few points ahead in the championship which I'm looking to close even more in this race. We are yet to go out on track but I'm really feeling confident and I've been watching the last few years races in between to study the track as well as where the bike seems weak so I know where I can and can't push which I'm hoping will play to my advantage as long as I've interpreted things correctly.

The media attention this weekend has been insane and I've done more interviews than ever all because this is where they believe they will really see mine and Marc's rivalry come to the surface. Usually I wouldn't like too much attention but I've been trying to use it to my advantage and get my name out there as a serious contender for the championship fight. The biggest problem with this is that there are constantly cameras in my face like now that we are preparing for fp1 there is at least 4 cameras on my garage with 3 of them focussed directly on me which is an issue as they always break my focus when I'm trying to get into the zone. Eventually I had enough and just sat on the bike in front of the garage with my helmet on to help block everything else out until the team were ready for me to go.

Like always I was one of the first out on track and set an early lap time before coming in again to see how it compares to what others did. My time was pretty good but Pecco was a few tenths quicker which meant there was room to improve so I hoped back on the bike and head down pit lane but when I turned around to make sure I wasn't too close to anyone Marc was coming out his garage right behind me. Generally I don't mind him following me as it means I'm faster and he wants to use me as a marker or for slipstream but this weekend I didn't want him to as he probably has a slight edge on me so using my slipstream would only make him faster but I guess that's what racing is all about. After another set of laps I came in to check the data before one last time attack and just as I got in they put a replay of one of my laps where Marc got incredibly close behind in a corner and was inches away from taking me out, it was hard to watch it was that close but luckily I didn't notice actually on track so I didn't lose focus.