Marquez doubts recent podium form will continue in final MotoGP races
Honda’s Marc Marquez admits his podium form in the Indian and Japanese Grands Prix won’t continue into the final races of the 2023 MotoGP season.
The India/Japan double-header provided a welcome boost for Marquez and Honda amidst an otherwise dire campaign.
Marquez scored his first podium since the season-opener in the India sprint when he was third, and was fighting in the rostrum battle in the grand prix at Buddh before crashing out.
In Japan, Marquez was able to fight through to third in the wet flag-to-flag grand prix to mark his first Sunday podium since Phillip Island 2022.
Read more: 10 things we learned from the 2023 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix
The stop-and-go nature of Buddh and Motegi worked in favour of the Honda and masked some of its weaknesses.
As such, Marquez doesn’t believe his recent form now sets the tone for the remainder of the campaign.
“No. I mean, I would like to say yes,” he said when asked if he could fight at the front in dry conditions going forward.
“But India and here [Motegi] is stop-and-go corners, and it’s here where I can take a risk on the braking point, turn and make a massive pick-up to have a good acceleration.
“But we will arrive at Mandalika and there are a few corners where you have to use banking.
“You need to use that edge grip, the traction, and it’s here where we are losing a lot because you cannot do anything because you just spin.
“I will try to do my best like I do always, but it will be more difficult. But even like this, we must enjoy the good moments.
“In India it was a good weekend, today [Sunday in Japan] and even [Saturday] was a good sprint race. So, let’s see if we can keep going to the end of the season in this way.”
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez also heaped praise on title fighters Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia for how they rode in the Japanese GP, considering everything at stake for them, in such tricky conditions.
“I mean, it was amazing,” the Honda rider added.
“When you are fighting for a championship, these kinds of conditions, I know how it is.
“And it’s a massive respect because they did a very good race, they are fighting, they have this extra concentration, this extra push.
“Apart from that, it was nice to see the battle of these two guys from behind.”
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