“My goal is to fight for the World Cup, although neither Honda nor I started as favourites”
BARCELONA, 19 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
MotoGP rider Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) assured this Monday that on his recent visit to Honda in Japan he asked the Japanese brand to have a “competitive motorcycle” in 2023, no matter what, but one that can guarantee him to fight for a World Cup to which he really aspires to be already much better with an arm –operated four times– on which he continues to work.
“I have asked Honda for a competitive bike, and I don’t care how. I don’t care if the bike behind is in front or the other way around. I want a competitive bike because my dream is to fight for a World Championship with Honda again. And in recent four races of 2022 we were on the right track. I have full confidence in Honda, if there is any brand that can change everything in 2-3 months it is Honda”, he assured.
The eight-time world champion explained that he was in Japan for a few days, with “very constructive events and meetings.” “We are working with Honda, I demand from them and they from me, too. We are a team. They were constructive meetings to create a winning project, which means that all the pilots want to be in the project and in Honda,” he said.
And from those fruitful meetings a proper evolution of the 2022 Honda should come out. “It’s not a new bike, it’s an evolution. I don’t believe in a totally new bike either. they involve one hundred percent, you can’t demand anything more. And they also demand me, they ask me to be at the top of my arm. Can I make more of a difference? I can. And that’s why I’m working more”, explained the one from beer.
Márquez, who spoke to the media after presenting the ‘Learn for Sight’ campaign together with the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona -a solidarity project that it sponsors with 100,000 euros with the aim of improving ophthalmological health in Haiti-, assured that the three parties involved they want to win the 2023 MotoGP World Championship, which would be their seventh win in the elite and ninth in total. “I am Marc, Honda is Honda and in the Repsol Honda Team we are obliged to fight for the title. And this is the intention. Then we will see what happens”, he pointed out.
“The goal is to continue working on my arm to be at one hundred percent. I think I’ll be at a pretty good level, if not a very good one, in 2023 because I feel like that. My goal for next year is to fight for the World Cup although neither Honda nor I start as favourites. I have to work, but Honda too. We both trust and we are going to do well”, he explained in this regard, accepting that he does not start as the first candidate for the title despite his record.
In fact, and after celebrating the victory of Leo Messi and Argentina in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he assured that he is “pursuing the World Cup” as Messi did. “I was tired of people who said that they lacked a World Cup, who said that (Argentina) did not have a team. It has been seen that there is a team behind it but I think that Messi was the lungs of Argentina and he deserved it. He is an idol and a reference for me. In the World Cup I was going with Spain but yesterday I saw the game as if my brother was playing, because he deserved it. It was the last chance I had”, he was honest.
In this ninth title attempt, however, he must play well the only card that is served to him from Japan. “We will play everything on one card, in February, with what we will test in the (pre-season) test. We will see in what situation we arrive at the first date in Portimao, and my goal and involvement is to win for the World Cup. That’s why We are competing,” he stressed.
On a personal level and in terms of his physical condition, he claimed to be better than at the end of the last championship. “Now, as of December, I am better and stronger than the last race in Valencia. I did my recovery on the bike, which is good for some things and now in December I have dedicated myself to strengthening weak muscles. In I’ll take another step in January and I’ll see what my 100 percent will be, but I’m already better than in the last few races,” he celebrated.