Marc Marquez will face the ’23 MotoGP season with doubts about his health and technical conditions. Honda test rider analysis.
A decisive season in the world championship is expected for Honda and Marc Marquez MotoGP. After a difficult three-year period with poor results, where rock bottom was really reached in some Grands Prix (see Sachsenring 2022), both the champion from Cervera and the top management of the Golden Wing are expecting a decisive breakthrough. The RC213V that we saw in the last test in Valencia on November 8th didn’t give proof of being able to react from a technical point of view and of being able to compete at the top.
The reference point at the moment is the Ducati Desmosedici GP, which has reached a technical competitiveness limit that is not easy to reach. Honda has promised that in the Sepang test Marc Marquez and the other riders of the brand will have the necessary updates at their disposal to constantly aim for the podium. The House certainly has the potential to succeed in this mammoth enterprise, but the positive result is certainly not a given.
Marc Marquez getting on with age
Stefan Bradl he replaced Marc Marquez on several occasions, seven times in the last championship alone. He knows the RC213V perfectly, its strengths and its limitations, and he also knows well the eight-times world champion who has reached the age of 30 and has to deal with fiercer and younger rivals. Furthermore, the conditions of his right arm are not yet at the top and it will be necessary to understand at what level he will return to the track for the start of the new MotoGP World Championship. “He knows he still has a good two or three years ahead of him. He wants a winning bike, he’s said it several times“, recalls the German tester. “I think he’s aware of his health. That’s why he is now calling for clear measures from HRC“.
In the years leading up to the Jerez 2020 injury, Marc Marquez knew how to be fast with whatever technical package he had available. Now the music has changed, he can’t take too many risks and falls and the competition has made great strides. “It was always fascinating to see how he managed to cope with falls. But he’s not getting any younger“. To the problems in the arm is added the diplopia which could re-emerge at any time in the event of a fall, so the risks must be minimized.
Dulcis in fundo, qualifying has become an essential element for victory. There Honda RC213V still unable to make the most of the new soft tires on the flying lap. To improve, investments and improvements will be needed in every technical area of the bike, consequently a new approach is needed at an engineering and managerial level. “There is a need to catch up with aerodynamics. And Ducati showed courage because it constantly made changes to devices and aerodynamics“concluded Stefan Bradl to Speedweek.com. “I notice that Honda lacks a little courage to experiment“.
