Marquez claims Honda “found the problem” on final test day
MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says Honda has “found the way” with its troubled 2020 RC213V, following a pre-season testing phase which had the injured Spaniard “worried”.


Marquez’s pre-season has been hindered by ongoing recovery from a shoulder operation in November, though he admitted after a difficult Sepang test that he was more worried about the bike than his injury. Honda’s woes – mainly surrounding corner entry and poor turning – continued on the first two days in Qatar, with LCR’s Cal Crutchlow revealing he was having to ride the bike “quite amateur” just to stay on it.
So worried were Honda that Marquez was given one of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami’s 2019-spec bikes to try on the final day of the Qatar test on Monday. After trying various parts, Marquez believes Honda has found a way forward with its bike.
“In the last day, already I think here in 2016 we did the same way,” Marquez, who was seventh fastest on Monday, said. “But we found the way. Already in Malaysia there was some problems that I didn’t understand, some strange crashes in the fast corners that normally I’d save but I was struggling a lot, and yesterday, again, another strange crash.
“Maybe I’m thinking always about my physical condition, I say [to myself] ‘I’m riding the same like always’, but then I saw that all of the [Honda] riders were struggling; not only my team-mate, who is a rookie, but also Cal.
“I want to say thanks to Honda, to all my team, to all my mechanics because they did a great job. They concentrate all the power and all the effort inside my box and we find the way. I was riding very good, we understand many things, we test some 2019 parts to try understand where was the problem and we found the problem.
“So this is the most important thing of the pre-season, not only of the day, because yesterday we were very far and was not enjoying riding the bike, and today I enjoyed it and we were much closer.”
Read Also:
Asked if Honda made progress with turning, he said: “We were missing the front feeling. The entry of the corner was not good, and then we didn’t have the speed of the turning. And then we tried to recover the grip on the exit – the speed what we lose on the entry – and then we lose the grip.
“So, entry improved, mid-corner improved, so exit was faster.”
Marquez tried the old Honda aerodynamic fairing on his ’20 bike on Monday, and retried a chassis he’d previously tested but found little gain with. Now that Honda has found a direction to go, he admits it will have to re-try many things in the coming race weekends.
“We tried a different chassis too at the end of the day,” he added. “The problem is all the work we did this pre-season was not working and always… we start in one point, we try many things, and we finish in the same starting point.
“So now that we found the problem, we need to re-try all the things.”

Vinales tops final test day, Marquez back on 2019 bike
Rossi “worried” about 2020 Yamaha’s race pace

Latest news
Why Ducati holds all the power in its MotoGP rider dilemma
OPINION: The French Grand Prix looks to have made Ducati’s decision on its factory team line-up simpler, as Enea Bastianini stormed to his third win of the campaign and Jorge Martin crashed out for a fifth time in 2022. But, as Ducati suggests to Motorsport.com, it remains in the strongest position in a wild rider market
The seismic aftershock of Suzuki's decision to leave MotoGP
Suzuki's sudden decision to leave the MotoGP World Championship at the end of the season has acted as a stirring element in a market that had already erupted. We analyse what this means for the grid going into 2023
How the real Ducati began to emerge in MotoGP's Spanish GP
Ducati’s 2022 MotoGP bike has had a tough start to life and the expected early-season title charge from Francesco Bagnaia did not materialise. But the Spanish Grand Prix signalled a turning point for both the GP22 and Bagnaia, as the 2021 runner-up belatedly got his season underway after a straight fight with Fabio Quartararo
How praise for Honda's MotoGP bike has given way to doubt
In a little over two months, Honda has gone from setting the pace in MotoGP testing with its new RC213V prototype to being at a crossroads - caused by the discrepancy in its riders' feedback. After a Portuguese GP that underwhelmed, serious questions are now being asked of Honda in 2022
Why Quartararo's win was vital not only for his title hopes
Fabio Quartararo got his MotoGP title defence off the ground in the Portuguese Grand Prix as a dominant first win of 2022 rocketed him to the top of the standings. While a significant result in terms of his title hopes, it has come at an even more important time in terms of his 2023 contract negotiations
The MotoGP rookie fighting two fronts in his debut year
Darryn Binder has found himself in the unenviable position as MotoGP's most under-pressure rookie in 2022 having made the step directly from Moto3 with a reputation as an over-aggressive rider. This hasn't been an easy thing to shake at the start of the season, but he believes tangible progress is being made
How ‘Beast’ mode is putting Ducati in 2022 MotoGP title contention
Enea Bastianini’s second win of the 2022 campaign at COTA puts him back in the lead of the standings and once again showed the best Ducati package is still the 2021 bike. Those closest to Bastianini tell Motorsport.com why he’s so good on the GP21 relative to his factory counterparts.
How Espargaro helped Aprilia shed MotoGP's underdog tag
Aleix Espargaro became MotoGP's newest winner in a thrilling Argentina Grand Prix in which he also proved the merits of the Aprilia project. After six years of hard graft, both parties have reaped the rewards they have long thought they deserved. But it was several key moments in that journey that led both to that momentous Sunday at Termas de Rio Hondo.