Marquez, a particular eve
When the difficulties of the organizers of the Indian Grand Prix in providing the necessary visas to the MotoGP teams emerged, it was leaked that Honda HRC and its riders Marc Marquez and Joan Mir were involved in the affair. The Japanese team actually had to delay their arrival in the South Asian country by a day, but fortunately managed to reach the Buddh International Circuit to be available to the media starting on Thursday.
Marquez therefore arrives in Greater Noida with the hope of being able to take advantage of the new entry on the calendar, perhaps to follow up on the good weekend in Misano, where he achieved his best result of 2023 in the Sunday race, with seventh place at the finish line.
The Spanish champion in the meantime tested the first prototype of Honda’s 2024 chassis in the Misano tests, but essentially rejected the new features and officially placed a question mark on his future, which will be defined in the coming weeks. The paths are clear: either one further season in HRC or the move to the Gresini teamwith a season-old Ducati.
The words of Marc Marquez in the press conference
“Impressions on the circuit? Looks like a nice track, it must be seen on a MotoGP, if the grip is good, it will be even more beautiful.
The Misano tests? We will have the same bike as two weeks ago, because it is the one with which I have the best feeling. I tried the new prototype and it worked the same, in fact worse for me. For the moment I will continue to use what I have. Progress? In Misano the result was positive, even if I finished seventh, because for part of the race I had a good pace. At the end of the race I felt tired and took a step back to see the checkered flag. I used a slightly different mental approach, for a few laps we showed that the speed was there.
The future? In the tests there were 2 of us who preferred the old bike and 2 others the new bike. From what we have seen, it does not seem sufficient to us to be competitive next year. We want a step forward five or six tenths faster, I’m not interested in riding a motorbike faster than a single tenth. I will continue to push the team.
The new prototype was different aesthetically, but the lap time was identical. We need to improve when exiting corners, it’s clear. This could make us a lot of money.
The decision for 2024? My ideas are the same as a month ago, I have no news on the matter.
The visa delay? I’m a little more tired, but I don’t have to think about it. There are only 3 and a half hours of time difference, there will be no problems.”
#Marquez #rejects #Honda #interested #improvements