Marc Marquez to test 2023 Honda ‘concept’, ‘Pecco deserves title’

When the red lights went out Marquez became aware of a technical issue with his RCV, which forced him to push ever harder on the brakes.

After slipping from second to third on the opening lap, the Repsol Honda rider was passed by Jack Miller on lap 6 before eventually crashing out on lap 10 of 27.

“I’m happy to finish the season because it was a strange season, first of all in my personal-professional side with the injury, but then also because with the bike we had some difficulties,” Marquez said.

“We had too many problems, today we had another problem in the race and we must understand why. It's so difficult to have a weekend without any problems. If you want to fight for a championship, you must be consistent in all the aspects.”

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“Already from the start I realised there was some problem. Because if you check my starts during all the year, I always start good. But today I lost positions and immediately I felt something.

“The torque was not the same as in the practice. Then when I arrive in the box [afterwards] and they analysed, they realised the problem.

“I was fourth in the race. I saw that every time I was getting further from the podium and at one point I said ‘ok, go’. But I was braking too late. When you brake too late, you can gain time for one lap, or two, or three. But 27 laps pushing you have a big chance to lose the front.”

Marquez thus finishes his third injury-interrupted season in a row ranked 13th in the world championship, with one podium from his 12 starts, yet still the top Honda rider.

The 29-year-old now has one day off before attention turns fully to 2023 with a day of official post-race testing at Valencia on Tuesday.

“I'm looking forward to Tuesday - I know it’s not a massive step what I have on Tuesday. It’s not the last one. But it’s the first philosophy, the first step. So I’m looking forward [to see] if it’s the correct one for the future.”

Pressed further on details of the prototype bike he will ride, Marquez added:

“I don't know exactly… I know that it is another chassis, maybe a small difference in bike balance. The engine I don’t know if they have changed or not for this test.

“But let's see, I know that is the first bike concept for 2023.”

Marquez: It’s so difficult to stop the bike

While the specific changes might not be clear, Marquez knows exactly where he wants progress to be made.

“Especially, we need to understand the way to stop well the bike on the brakes. It's so difficult to stop. Then we're stopping the bike too much on the last part [of braking], and this means risk.

“As soon as you ride alone you can manage more or less. But when you are in a group, then it’s very difficult to fight with this bike.

“For that reason I crashed today, Alex crashed, Pol crashed. A lot of crashes from Honda riders during all the season.

“So we need to understand the way to stop well the bike in a straight line because it's the best way to have less risk. And especially we need to understand also the way to improve the engine because in 5th and 6th we're losing too much.

“If you have a good engine and gain half-tenth in the straight, you can brake a bit earlier, because you don't need to push a lot. But even so, the braking, the stopping in a straight line is where we need to improve a lot.”

That deficiency also explains why Marquez took his best finish of the season at Phillip Island and qualified on the front row in Valencia.

“As soon as we arrive at a circuit where we don’t have a lot of straight line stopping, we are fast. Like Australia and here,” Marquez said.

“This weekend I was losing a lot in Sector 1 because you had the stopping for Turn 1 and Turn 2. All the other sectors I was fast. So this means that the weak point is there.

“For me it’s [about] bike balance. I mean, if you don't have the rear wheel on the ground, you don’t know if the engine brake is working well or not! You saw the pictures in Malaysia with the rear wheel [in the air]. So we need to improve there.”

‘Pecco deserves it’

Marquez will be one of four MotoGP champions on next year’s grid, with Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia sealing his first premier-class title on Sunday.

The Italian had been 91-points behind reigning champion Fabio Quartararo after the Sachsenring but caught and passed the Yamaha rider to win the world championship by a margin of 17 points.

“I have full respect for Pecco. He's a great rider. He won in Moto2. He won many races this this year. For me his race in Malaysia was incredible, because with all that pressure and to fight [to win] until the end is something that you respect a lot as a rider.

“In the end they found the best package, the [Ducati] team and Pecco. It is true that from my point of view, Ducati was in front compared to Yamaha and the other manufacturers because you see many Ducati riders in front.

“But anyway, not everything is ‘green’. They have some problems also. But I want to congratulate Pecco because he won many races and he deserves it.”

Tuesday’s test will also see Marquez joined by new team-mate Joan Mir, who finished sixth in his final race for Suzuki.