Márquez: "We're already late. We'll only have one bullet with the 2023 bike"

After the flash of positivity that was the second place won in Australia , this Sunday’s race in Sepang was, for Marc Márquez and, especially for Honda , a reality check. The pilot already warned, as soon as he got off the box at Phillips Island on Sunday of last week, that in Malaysia “we are going to suffer”, due to the physical demands of the track and, above all, due to the long straights on which the RC213V is clearly inferior to its rivals in terms of speed.

Hence, after the fiasco that the 2022 motorcycle has meant for Honda, finding the key with the prototype for next season is crucial so that Marc, once recovered, can once again opt for the best.

Márquez reappeared in the official Misano tests, on September 6, after 100 days off as a result of the fourth operation on his right arm. The rider returned for a test to test himself physically, but above all to give his comments on the new parts with a view to the 2023 bike that Honda had prepared for those tests.

Alberto Puig , the HRC team manager, assured that “it would be a problem” if Marc was not in those tests, since “it would be more of the same. Normally the Misano test is very important to prepare a prototype for the test of Valencia , if Marc is not in Misano we will go as before, blindly”, was the warning.

Márquez made the effort: “The objective of the test is to prove myself. If I’m fine, then it will be for Honda,” said the rider, who finally completed two days of testing and more than 100 laps.

This Sunday, in Sepang, Márquez was able to see first hand how the bike is not enough for more. “It was a long and hard race, too long. And when you lose positions, it becomes very long. The pace on Saturday was not normal,” said Márquez at the end of the day.

“I was losing too much and risking too much. It was not the way,” he added.

“This circuit exposes the weak points of the bike and mine, so it was the worst possible scenario. The bike felt slow throughout the weekend. And then you push more. You can do that for five laps. I felt worse than in the other races because I struggled more with the bike”.

With two more years of contract ahead of him, the only option for Marc to fight for the titles again and for Honda not to lose him, is to get the 2023 bike right, a prototype that is in its initial phase and that right now is almost no one expects him to be finished for the Valencia test on November 8.

In order to advance in the development of the bike, which Marc rides solo after it was announced that Alex Márquez and Pol Espargaró will no longer be at Honda, and with Takaaki Nakagami injured, the #93 dedicates part of the weekend sessions to future work .

“This weekend we worked a lot and I tried everything they asked me to,” he said.

“But now it’s their turn (in Tokyo ). If here (Sepang) you don’t have a motor and grip behind you, you can be Superman because there’s nothing to do.”

While at Honda they continue to work on race weekends, at KTM they are already competing (Brad Binder) with the 2023 bike (except for the engine), and other manufacturers already have the bike practically done, as the Pramac rider explained- Ducati Jorge Martín this Sunday: “I am happy with how the bike is going, and I hope that, deciding only the engine (from 2023) and not touching anything else, I can start next season as it should”.

In contrast, Honda is far from having a final idea for the prototype, which includes the already famous Kalex swingarm, which alternates, even today, with the self-made carbon one.

“We are already late,” warned Márquez.

“In Misano everyone tested the new bike and we didn’t. We will only have one bullet, because the bike we use here (in Sepang, in the tests) in February will be the one we will have to shoot with”, in the season.

“I don’t know if we will have new things in Valencia to try, but that would help,” the boy from Cervera pleaded with Japan .

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team