Marc Márquez has regained his smile. The Cervera driver got his first victory on Sunday after returning from injury on his talisman circuit. With this there are already 11 consecutive wins at the Sachsenring. Not even the fact that he was physically impaired by the shoulder prevented him from prolonging his reign. This victory has unleashed the euphoria with the ilerdense and, although winning the World Cup is almost impossible, some see him fighting for the title. However, Marc prefers to be cautious and uses the Doohan case as a reference to return to the top.
In Germany he showed that if the shoulder responds to him it is still the best. After the race he wanted to reduce the euphoria a bit and assured that in Assen they will be fighting again in Q2 to enter Q1. Márquez keeps his feet on the ground and goes step by step, following the deadlines set for his recovery. This victory has given him a good boost in morale to face the remainder of the season, although he is aware that this year is more of a transition, as happened to Mick Doohan in 1993.
The conversation with the Australian was key to face this process with greater tranquility. The five-time world champion of the premier class suffered a serious accident at Assen 1992 in which Dutch doctors wanted to amputate his right leg. At the time of the accident he was leading the outstanding 65 points ahead of Wayne Rainey. He returned with two races to go, still leading, but was physically severely impaired and could not prevent the American from becoming champion.
The following year he experienced a ‘transition year’ in which he could only win one race, in San Marino, and was fourth overall. He had problems similar to those of Márquez . He could not adapt to the bike and made stupid mistakes, as Marc himself said. But Doohan did not give up and the following year he returned stronger than ever to win his first title in ’94 . It was the beginning of the Doohan era. After two years to forget, between the injury and the problems with the bike, the Australian rebuilt himself and won five consecutive titles in the 500cc category that made him the legend that he is today.
“Time fixes everything”
Márquez acknowledged after the victory that the conversation with Doohan helped him a lot. Knowing the case of a legend like him, who went through a similar situation, rebuilt himself and managed to reach the top and listen to his advice reassured him a lot: “ I had a call of almost half an hour with Mick Doohan , who helped me a lot. He explained his case in 92-93, how he felt, what was wrong with him, what mistakes he made. It seemed that he was narrating my situation .
“He arrived with a motorcycle that the other riders had changed, he changed it and still didn’t understand anything, he made stupid mistakes that weren’t his own – stupid mistakes I’ve made too. He says that it is normal, that it happened to him, that then everything changes. Time fixes everything. You need patience and keep working, “commented the man from Lleida after his eleventh victory in Germany.
After learning his story, Márquez was somewhat calmer. ” This reassures you at the pilot level because you see a legend like Mick Doohan who went through something similar and it cost him, but he ended up taking it out.” The eight-time world champion looks to the Australian to reign in MotoGP. Like the former Honda rider, Marc will not be a champion for two years. Although he is very competitive and always wants to win and will give everything to try to win the World Cup , he knows that this year his options are minimal and he is focused on recovering to gain strength for the next season. His goal is not to fight for the title this year but to return to 100% in 2022, ready to once again give cane to his rivals and regain his throne.
