MADRID, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish MotoGP rider Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) wishes that “there is still evolution” in his recovery process to reach “another level, one more step” for 2023 and be able to fight for the World Championship, after a comeback after injury “much better” than expected, at the same time that he assured that if the results of the Honda riders “are not happening, it is also because the project has to be more competitive”.
“My return has been much better than we expected, from Aragón I was ready, with a good pace. In Japan and Thailand we were able to do the whole weekend, the sensations have been better than I expected, but I hope and wish that evolution remains, because I want to reach another level, one more step. It’s time to continue working,” Márquez assured in an interview with Europa Press at an event organized by Estrella Galicia 0,0.
The eight-time world champion suffered the umpteenth problem in the humerus of his right arm – which forced him to undergo surgery for the fourth time in two years – on May 29 in Mugello. From there, he began a rapid, although controlled, ‘express’ recovery process for it in the decisive section of the course, and his reappearance occurred in Aragón in September, after almost 1,100 days away from the slopes.
Thus, the rider decided, “together with the doctors”, to continue “recovering on the bike”, even though this entailed a “risk”, as he was not “fully ready”. “I have evolved well in these last three races,” he celebrated, without being able to give a percentage of the physical condition of his arm. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know what one hundred percent is, I’ll know in winter more or less, what my top strength is. At the moment the evolution is positive and that’s important,” he added.
However, the one from Cervera recognized that for a high-level athlete it is difficult to go calmly in a situation like this, something that the doctors recommended. “You can’t,” he joked. “One of the questions to the doctors when they discharged me was: can I fall? Because on the bike the intensity is always maximum,” he admitted.
“But since I got on the bike my chip is not going to win yes or yes, I don’t look at the results, I look at the sensations. This is a sport where not only is the rider, but also the bike and the team. Honda is in a difficult moment and the objective of my return is to evolve physically and provide my comments to Honda so that the project evolves for 2023”, he pointed out.
The Spaniard, whose best result this year is fourth place in Jerez and Japan -the latter after his return-, confessed to having met with the leadership of the Japanese factory to request a competitive motorcycle for 2023. “Honda is Honda, and what he wants is to win. It is not necessary to ask him, but it is true that there are meetings…”, he pointed out.
Even so, Márquez stated that within the brand they are “realistic” in the current situation – the one from Cervera is the best Honda in the World Championship, 13th with 84 points, despite missing six races due to injury. “We all want to evolve, because in 2023 the objective is to try to fight for the World Cup once again, it is the obligation that the brand and I have. There have to be changes to have a winning project”, he remarked.
“The main objective is to roll and gain kilometers, to have the same evolution that I have had in the last three Grand Prix, and if it is the same I will be happy. Then there are small objectives, small stimuli, and if I can be third better than fourth. This it’s competition”, he pointed out as a goal for the final stretch.
Finally, he positively valued the arrival at the team of Joan Mir next year, a MotoGP world champion who “has the level to go very fast”. “And in the ‘box’ you have to have two level drivers, in case one fails,” he commented, before recalling that the drivers who are now “are also world champions, with great races.” “If the results aren’t coming out for the Honda riders, it’s also because the project has to be more competitive,” he said.
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