Marc Marquez 'proud' of clockwise ride, Honda podium form

It couldn't compare to the emotional Sachsenring victory a week earlier, but Marc Marquez was 'proud' of his 20th-to-7th place ride in Sunday's Dutch MotoGP at Assen.

The significance wasn't just down to the way he had recovered from his worst ever MotoGP qualifying, but that it was the first time Marquez felt truly competitive on a clockwise circuit since his right-arm fracture almost a year ago.

While the Sachsenring, where Marquez has been unbeaten for eleven years, contained only three of the right-hand corners that currently torment his healing arm and shoulder, Assen has twelve of them per lap.

Throw in the third fastest lap of the race, despite a huge Friday practice highside that left him limping for the remainder of the weekend, and it's small wonder that Marquez went into the summer break a 'happy' man on Sunday evening.

"The weekend was not an easy one, with the big crash and also today starting from the last row," said Marquez. "I pushed a lot in the beginning. I used a lot of energy. Then I was impressed by my performance during all the race."

The Repsol Honda star, who had rocketed to 13th by Turn 1, spent the final stages of the race locked in a close battle for sixth with Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia and Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro.

"I’m proud because it's the first race on a clockwise circuit with right corners that I finished in a good way," Marquez added. "Of course I had arm pump. Of course I was struggling more, but also this racetrack is always really demanding about physical condition.

"The bike today also had the performance to finish on the podium. So this is something also that makes me happy."

Having laid the blame for his huge Friday highside on a traction control problem, Marquez was at pains to thank HRC for the fix provided by Saturday morning.

"The first thing I did when I came back to the box was say thanks to all my team and the engineers from HRC," explained Marquez.

"Because Friday I was quite angry about what’s happened. But from one day to the other they did a great job. This made it easier to get the confidence again. That was a big help, that quick reaction. Also the bike was working better, and I felt more safe.

"It’s not only about the team here at the track, they had a phone conference with the electronics engineers in Japan. Also with the electronics from the test team. They found a few parameters that weren’t in the correct way," Marquez added.

"The fact that here we had new asphalt, the grip is higher, and the TC was too far. Of course you can adjust on the track. But they changed a few parameters and with a used tyre I started to ride in a very good way.

"In the race, for the first part I was riding well but not comfortable. Then in the second part I did an improvement in the corners and it’s because of that change in the electronics side."

Apart from the software tweak, Marquez also raced with a new Honda chassis, which the eight-time world champion indicated was the first real technical step in the right direction since his return.

"Here we received the first item that more-or-less is different and works this year, which is the new chassis," he said. "I raced with that chassis and there were some improvements in some parts.

"So I’m happy and especially to the engineers it gives some motivation. If you give many things and but they never work, it’s easy to be upset. Now it looks like we found something and we need to take it and try to use it for the future."

Looking towards the summer break, which Marquez will start tenth in the world championship and the top Honda rider, the Spaniard hopes to be able to do more two-wheel training.

"First of all I need to take a rest, minimum 1 or 1.5 weeks, for the physical side but also the mental side," he said. "I started with shoulder surgery [in the winter of 2019-2020], then when that was OK I had the arm surgery, I mean it’s 2 years without a holiday. So I need a holiday right now. I will spend time with my friends doing what I want.

"Then I’ll have time to keep working. My plan if the arm allows is I’d like to ride more with motorbikes. At the moment I just go race by race. My plan to try to ride more days before the Austria GP and introduce a lot of bikes in my physical training."

Takaaki Nakagami was the next best Honda rider at Assen, in ninth place, with Marquez's team-mate Pol Espargaro in tenth.