The catalan Marc Márquez (Honda)ranked fourth in the Japanese Grand Prixheld this Sunday in Motegi Before more than 32,000 fans, he was extremely happy with his career and, above all, he considered that he had taken several steps forward in his recovery after the fourth operation he underwent, more than three months ago, on his arm, humerus and right shoulder.
The eight-time world champion’s career was constant, very fast, with great pace and he was always ahead, well ahead, of the main favorites for the title as the champion fabio quartararo (Yamaha), ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati) y Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia). Asked at the end of the test for his impressions, Márquez acknowledged that “it’s still a fourth place, but we finished very close to the podium and, furthermore, I was even able to push in the last laps to overtake Miguel Oliveira and get fourth place.” plaza, which I couldn’t do before.”
When they told him that he had not noticed any symptoms of concern for his right arm, that is, that he had not been seen or touched, or massaged, or anything, the Honda leader said that “The best thing is that we haven’t talked about my arm operated on in the box for many days, which is a very good sign. Well, yes, I usually talk to Alberto (Puig, head of the ‘team’), but it’s because he has been at all times, from when I started thinking about having surgery until I traveled to the US, very, very attentive to the whole process, Well, he, who has undergone dozens of operations on his leg, knows a lot about it and I will be eternally grateful to him for all that he has worried about me. I insist, I only talk to Alberto, because he usually asks me, but the subject of his arm is no longer touched on in boxing”.
Márquez did admit that, because he still lacks strength in his right arm and shoulder, he sometimes chats with his engineers about certain corners at certain circuits that should not serve as a reference for their calculations. “That is to say, when I see that, due to any detail of my rehabilitation, there is a curve that I have not yet completely rounded, I usually tell them ‘don’t look at this curve because I’m not doing well‘ and so we save ourselves from making wrong calculations”.
“On the arm I only speak, from time to time, with Alberto Puig, who has helped me a lot throughout the process and is always, always interested in my state”
Marquez, of course. confessed to have ended with a much better taste in the mouth of the weekend in Japan that of the weekend in Aragón, where it reappeared after several months of inactivity. “Better, yes, of course, because in Motorland I went well, the fastest lap of ‘quali’ was not bad, although I started 13th, but I did it alone, loose, well, something that I couldn’t do before, but here, in Motegi, a complicated track, more physical, the feeling of the whole weekend, with rain and dry, has been very good, although you have to be realistic because, on a completely dry weekend, maybe things would have been different ” .
failure in the Honda
“In the race I have been constant, from start to finish, without inventing”, continued explaining the one from Cervera (Lleida). “When I saw that, on the first lap, I had a little problem with the bike, with the engine, which I was able to solve by changing the map and I found myself fifth, I thought, well, stay here and don’t make things up. If he had been in the lead, look, maybe he would have forced something more, but, as Alberto (Puig) says, it is not yet the time to invent. It was difficult for me to overtake and, therefore, I preferred to follow Oliveira and, in the end, attack, since it had been a long time since I could give myself the pleasure of one last rush and attack to improve a position. They always attacked me.”
Marquez recognized that he expected to finish better in Aragon than in Japan and it has been the other way around. “Being able to attack in the last laps has been a great adrenaline rush because I haven’t been able to for a long time and it’s a very good sign on a physical level. Of course, now the one that stiffens, perhaps because I abuse it to protect the right, is the left arm. I have not felt the pain that comes to your head and that not even the adrenaline supplies it”.
Regarding the problem he suffered in the first lap of the race, which was not, apparently, as serious as the one that ruined the race and Aleix Espargaró’s (Aprilia) chances of winning the grand prix, Márquez did not want to say anything: “You can fix it by moving the bike maps, since my engineers had previously explained something to me. Allow me, then, not to say anything, because Honda always defends me and I have to defend Honda”.
