Marc Márquez ends MotoGP pre-season with good feelings

Sunday, the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing, saw a late revision to the schedule as riders were given more time for practice starts and the circuit given time to clean the start-finish straight. With the break in action coming at 13:00 Local Time, a natural lunch break was added into the day.

The last day of testing was a day about mileage for eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez as he completed a total of 74 laps. Marc Marquez suffered a fall at Turn 2 but was able to remount and return to the Repsol Honda Team garage before eventually heading back on track. Ultimately ending the day in 14th, Marquez was only 0.733s behind his team-mate as he focused on long runs and bike setup to preserve his shoulder. Overall, Marquez concludes the test in ninth place. The overview of the five days of testing has been ultimately positive for Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team as he returns from injury.

The Repsol Honda Team completed a total of 1,702 kilometers across the three days in Lombok with Marc Marquez totaling 212 laps.

Now the Repsol Honda Team prepare to start another year battling for the MotoGP World Championship, the 28th season of cooperation between Repsol and Honda HRC. The season begins under the Qatar floodlights on Sunday, March 06 where Marc is determined to start the year on the front foot.

Marc Márquez: “I really enjoyed riding the bike a lot today, I was tired at the start of today like everyone but having fun and enjoying riding was the best way to work today. I have some pain in my shoulder today so that’s why we didn’t focus on a time attack, because pushing for a fast lap requires a lot of power and I worked on race pace and setup. I continued to improve my feeling on the bike and comparing now to Malaysia, it’s a big difference. We have made a big step with the new bike and the feeling is getting better with each lap. HRC and the Repsol Honda Team have done a great job to get us to where we are today and I am looking forward to starting the season. A few weeks to keep training more and then we race!”

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Repsol Honda Team reveal 2022 challenge

Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro launch the 2022 Repsol Honda Team livery as the start of a new season rapidly approaches.

The 2022 season begins with renewed motivation for the Repsol Honda Team. Despite experiencing hardships both on and off the track during 2021, there have been incredible highs and moments of celebrations in the last 12 months including a pole position, three wins and five podiums in total. 2021 saw the triumphant return to competition for Marc Marquez, returning to winning ways 581 days after his last win.

Marc Marquez begins 2022 fully recovered from the diplopia which ended his 2021 campaign early. The last two injury-hit seasons have not quelled his hunger and the eight-time World Champion is as determined to fight for the title in his tenth season with the Repsol Honda Team as in his first season. Since stepping up to the premier class in 2013, Marquez has earned six MotoGP World Championship titles, won 59 races, finished on the podium 99 times, and earned pole position on 62 occasions – all with the iconic Repsol Honda Team. All of these are numbers which the #93 is aiming to increase in 2022.

With a successful test in Sepang, Malaysia already under their belts, Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro are now preparing for a new challenge at the Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia with the Repsol Honda Team. Both riders will have three more days of riding before the 2022 MotoGP World Championship begins at the Losail International Circuit, Qatar on Sunday, March 06.

Marc Márquez, 93: “Ten seasons already in MotoGP and ten seasons in the Repsol Honda Team is a dream. I mean it’s something I couldn’t imagine in my best dreams, of course also during these ten years we have achieved very good results, so for sure this is something special and I want to enjoy it. I know we will try to win the title to celebrate it well! My goal this year is to try and fight for the championship. We have started the season well already in Malaysia and now we prepare to head forward to this test in Mandalika and continue our preparations.”

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Rain cuts into promising second day of Sepang Test

Dark clouds broke just after the lunch break and soaked the Malaysian track, Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro still able to profit from a busy morning.

Sepang’s legendary afternoon rain showers finally hit the MotoGP paddock after almost an entire week of uninterrupted running on Sunday, the final day of the first pre-season test. Hitting just as the Repsol Honda Team were returning from their mid-test break, the rain meant there was little to learn in the final afternoon and the squad began to prepare for the trip to Mandalika, Indonesia. Even with the rain, both Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro are content with what they’ve been able to accomplish in a day and a half.

Marc Marquez finishes the second day of the Sepang test in eighth place, a 1’58.332 on his seventh lap of 49 putting him just 0.201s behind Enea Bastianini – fastest on the day. Although unable to do a planned long run due to the weather, Marquez and his side of the Repsol Honda Team garage were able to continue exploring the new Honda RC213V and gaining important knowledge. The coming Mandalika test will allow Marquez to further unlock the potential of the package Honda HRC have prepared over the winter.

The final three days of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship pre-season will begin on February 11 at the new Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia. These three days will be crucial for the Repsol Honda Team as they aim to prepare the new 2022 RC213V for the first race under the Qatari floodlights.

Marc Márquez, 8th: “I am happy about these two days in Sepang, but also tired! It’s true that it is very positive for us to be here even if I suffered a little bit physically, but we suffer now to enjoy in the season. When I push with the bike, the speed is there, and we are learning a lot about this bike after trying some big things. The bike certainly has potential and today we understood the front feeling better after some changes we made. Pol and Alex were fast in the long ran which is encouraging. I did a few laps in the damp and felt good too.”

 

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