This Sunday, in Austin , the Honda rider claimed the second victory after his reappearance, in mid-April, after having spent nine months off due to the management he carried out of the injury he suffered in Jerez , in the first race last year.
This latest triumph at the Circuit of the Americas was as incontestable as the one three and a half months ago at the Sachsenring . The forcefulness that led him to victory was similar to the one he exhibited before breaking his arm, when he was the owner and lord of the World Cup. In fact, the difference between him and the second classified, Fabio Quartararo , was this time 4.6 seconds, the second largest in his favor in Austin, only surpassed by the 6.1 he took from Jorge Lorenzo in the edition from 2016.
The victories in Germany and the United States have in common that both circuits turn counterclockwise, so that most of their curves are on the left. Those types of tracks have always been especially good for Cervera (Lleida). That preference is much more accentuated now that he has an obvious limitation in his right arm, due to the lash that the area has received. Before the crash in Jerez, Marc Márquez had already undergone surgery to resolve the dislocation problems in both shoulders that had been tormenting him in recent times. Then came the three operations in six months: the first to place the plate (July), the second, less than a week later, when it broke, and the third (December) when an infection was detected.
It’s no coincidence that the best version of the #93 has emerged at the Sachsenring, Texas and Aragón (he finished second after fighting for the win until the last lap with Pecco Bagnaia ), three circuits with the same direction of rotation. Apart from these scenarios, his best result is the fourth position he won in Misano , in a grand prix in which he himself said he had a hard time as a result of the pain.
His superiority last Sunday led many to think that he will soon be what he was before the accident. However, as soon as he got off the podium, Márquez himself took it upon himself to put on the handbrake, remembering that the sensations transmitted by the right side of his body are not at all the same as then, and that the handicap he drags on the curves to the right is more than considerable.
“The left-hand circuits were always my favourites, but the injury still makes that difference grow. It’s easy to understand: in a left hand bend I can twist and push with the triceps, but in a right hand bend I can’t. Riding like this is difficult, that’s why I can’t save the falls”, defined the one from Lleida .
“I don’t know exactly how I am physically. I’m still far from what I can do with my left arm. But it’s getting easier for me to hold position under braking. I still can’t skid and put the bike in, which was one of my strengths. Now I enter the turns like the others”, added the multi-champion.
One of the best people to compare the two versions of the rider is Santi Hernández , his track engineer at the Repsol Honda team workshop . “We are used to the Marc we knew before, this time we saw him win in a different way. Before [the injury] we saw him make much more aggressive changes of direction, more agile. The riding style of now is much more different”, reels off the technician.
If we put visual perceptions aside, the stopwatch confirms that argument. If in previous editions of the Grand Prix of the Americas, the first sector of the circuit, the most twisty, was one of the sections in which he distanced himself the most from his rivals, this year his partials there were practically traced to those of Quartararo, and around a tenth slower than those of Pecco Bagnaia (third).
Nobody who does not belong to the most intimate circle of Márquez knows in detail the file of that right arm. But the most general feeling on the MotoGP grid is that, physically, the HRC flag bearer suffers more than he shows.
“Marc is capable of fighting for the victory despite not being well. Without having the details, I think he is in very bad shape physically”, recognized Andrea Dovizioso in Misano. “What he is doing is crazy,” added the Italian, referring to who was his direct rival for the title on three occasions (2017-2019).
As is logical, Márquez is constantly thinking about his right arm; on how to gain strength and mobility, but you also need to isolate from time to time that issue that has practically monopolized your day to day for more than a year. “On Thursday, when I got to the box, I told the team members that I didn’t want them to ask me about my arm,” he revealed on Sunday.
“I haven’t seen the medical file, but it’s been ten months since the last surgery. In the majority of similar cases, the most evident improvement takes place before this period. From now on, his evolution will be slower and he probably won’t have much more to go,” a specialist traumatologist who has operated on several MotoGP riders tells Motorsport.com .
It is difficult to guess what the Catalan’s next move will be, who, yes, is absolutely determined to fight again to be champion. Although for this he must reinvent himself and run differently than he did before the accident, especially on those circuits that twist to the right, which are the majority on the current calendar. He has been working on it for months. If we take a look at the 2022 prototype that premiered a couple of weeks ago at the Misano test – “it is the most different Honda from the ones I have tried so far”, he summarized – the brand with the golden wing, too.
Click on the image to see the best photos of Marc Márquez in Austin
