MotoGP Japanese GP
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.
Lewis Duncan
Published: Oct 4, 2023, 9:42 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
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.
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.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“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.”
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.”
Read Also:
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Quartararo explains slicks-in-wet “challenge” in MotoGP Japanese GP
Next article What compels a MotoGP rider to return to something that almost killed him?
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
Latest news
How Max Verstappen escaped harsher penalty after FP1 collision in Portimao
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 14 min
How Max Verstappen escaped harsher penalty after FP1 collision in Portimao
Why Mercedes switched George Russell to its old F1 car spec in Singapore
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
38 min
Why Mercedes switched George Russell to its old F1 car spec in Singapore
Max Verstappen found responsible for FP1 clash at Portimao GTWC finale
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 2 h
Max Verstappen found responsible for FP1 clash at Portimao GTWC finale
“Wow, okay” – How Max Verstappen’s team-mate Ben Barnicoat reacted to his early GTWC driving
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 2 h
“Wow, okay” – How Max Verstappen’s team-mate Ben Barnicoat reacted to his early GTWC driving
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe