The Repsol Honda Team has expressed uncertainty about Marc Marquez’s participation in the upcoming MotoGP test in Misano.
The San Marino Grand Prix which will feature round fourteen of the 2022 MotoGP season, will take place this weekend in Misano, but Honda has all eyes on the two-day test on the following Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Japanese manufacturer had anticipated that the six-time premier class champion could ride for at least a portion of the test, but he receives hardly any mention in their preview of the five days of action on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
In contrast, test rider Stefan Bradl, who continues to replace Marquez in the grand prix, and Pol Espargaro both discussed the upcoming week’s schedule which follows the race event. Although it has not been officially confirmed, the fact that Marquez has been given the go-ahead to resume training on a motorcycle after a recent checkup does not sit well well with Honda.
Though the Misano test is scheduled for September 6-7, 2022, it will actually be a part of the 2023 preseason because the RC213V will be improved for the postseason test that follows this year’s championship race at Valencia thanks to the lessons learned from the excursion.
Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig acknowledged that Misano is “extremely significant” and that their team would be in the dark without their top rider while speaking on Spanish television at the Austrian Grand Prix.
“Hopefully Misano can give us a boost after a hard weekend in Austria,” said Puig. “I am fully focused and committed to continuing to give everything to the Repsol Honda Team and we are all working together to find solutions.”
“The two-day test will be very useful and important for this, we have to work well over the whole event because we then head to a very intense period with the flyways. We stay focused, we stay motivated and we keep on pushing.”
“Normally, the Misano test is very important to prepare a ‘prototype’ for Valencia, if he’s not there, we’ll go as we’ve been going so far, a bit blind, honestly.”
“We have had two riders. In these past cases we have had to rely a bit on Pol [Espargaro] and then on the test rider, but of course, the one who knows this bike best from experience.”
“A rider knows a bike by the time he has been on it and by the quality of the races he has done.”
Marquez has been sidelined since June when he underwent a fourth surgery on his right arm. After the Red Bull Ring round, he had one of his routine check-ups, and was then given the all-clear to “intensify” his training, which included getting on a motorcycle.
According to Honda’s then-current update on motorcycle riding, Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team will evaluate the necessary next actions based on the results of this outing. Thus, it looks like either the Japanese manufacturer is still unsure or has given up on whether the Spaniard can ride at Misano.
Marquez is still the top-ranked Honda rider in the 2022 MotoGP world championship standings despite having already missed seven races this season, including two because of concussion/double vision following his Mandalika Warm-Up high side.
He is now ranked 15th in the standings with two-thirds of the season completed, immediately ahead of his Honda teammates Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), Espargaro, and brother Alex Marquez (LCR).
While Bradl hasn’t scored a point in six rounds as an injury replacement and as a wildcard. Honda is last in the constructors’ championship as its factory team is ninth and LCR tenth in the rankings.
