Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa ready for final 2018 pre-season test

“I’m happy with our pre-season so far, as we’ve started a bit better than last year, but we must remain concentrated and focused on the work ahead. Now we have to reconfirm everything in Qatar, which is a particular track, and not an easy one. We’re still working to best understand the new engine, working on the setup to adapt it as well as possible to my riding style. We already took a step forward from Sepang to Buriram, and we look forward to taking another one in Qatar. We’ve always focused our work on our race pace and consistency, and we’re generally happy with the feeling we have with the bike. We’ll try to be on the pace in Losail as well, and to get ready for the first race.”

“It will be very interesting to see how things go in Qatar, and also to have the chance to evaluate our engine there. So far we’ve tested it in two very hot places, and now we’ll need to set it up for a different situation and cooler conditions. Qatar is also dusty, and that will be another thing we’ll have to assess. Of course the goal is to arrive at the first race as prepared as possible. Another thing that will be different is the ‘wet test’ that we’ll carry out on the final day; having had rain in Qatar on a few occasions in the past, we’ve been asked to give our opinions about riding there in the wet. We’ll see what the artificially soaked track will be like, and what feeling we’ll have on it.”