Will Marc Marquez be on track at Qatar in less than 10 days? It remains to be seen, but with a green light from his doctors to begin intensifying his training, Marquez is already testing his right arm (nearly dragging his right elbow – see the screenshot from the video above). Testing aboard the Honda ultra-expensive, V-4 powered RC213V-S in Barcelona, Marquez appears to display good form (see the video below) despite not riding a motorcycle for nearly nine months, and undergoing multiple surgeries to repair his broken right arm. Check out the video below from HRC showing Marquez during his test.
In other news, newly retired Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso has agreed to test Aprilia’s MotoGP bike at Jerez in mid-April. Here is the press release from Aprilia, followed by the Honda video:
| Aprilia Racing and Andrea Dovizioso will be together on the track in Jerez from 12 through 14 April. Andrea will conduct a test on the 2021 RS-GP that will race in the World MotoGP Championship and which, ridden in its début tests by Aleix Espargaró and Lorenzo Savadori, provided good sensations straight away. |
| MASSIMO RIVOLA – AD APRILIA RACING “It was a pleasure to invite Andrea. The days in Jerez will simply be a chance to get to know one another better, also on the track. It will not be a ‘trial matrimony’ but an opportunity to turn some laps together without any binding commitment for the future. We are well aware of all Andrea’s qualities and his contribution will be important, even for just one test.” |
| ANDREA DOVIZIOSO “I was pleased by Aprilia’s interest and when we spoke about the possibility of doing this test, I gladly accepted the invitation to be able to ride a MotoGP bike again and to stay in form, giving the engineers my feedback. I wish to thank Aprilia Racing for this opportunity.” |
Dial it back? Ha. He will race – or crash – at 110%.
I was hoping he’d be out for a while for two reasons. Better racing among the rest of the field and it’d give him more time to heal. When he dominates, the racing is boring.
MM93 appears to ride with more grit and determination than any other road racer I have observed, and the Championships support that claim. It appears as if that same grit and determination caused his 2020 absence.
In his last race he went off-track early on, pushing him to last, from where he clawed and fought to 3rd, a spectacular feat with a lap or two remaining. IFO him was Vinales, whom has beaten MM on rare occasion. Maverick is inconsistent but he was in 2nd place and not about to make room for Marc.
On the one hand I understand Marc wanting to put an exclamation to his comeback, but the leader was 20S ahead and Marc would never have caught him. #3 would have been a spectacular ending for Marc.
Marc’s failed attempt to pass Maverick and Marc’s ensuing crash seemed like fate knocking Marc up side the head. That investment saying, “Past performance is no guarantee of future success” seems to fit this moment. Marc seemed to cheat fate so many times, even in his success going from last to #3 in that race. Maybe his “luck” has simply turned. Maybe his luck “returns to mean” as the saying goes.
But even two DNF’s would not necessarily have ended Marc’s 2020 Championship hopes. IMO someone up the food chain @ Honda failed in their responsibility to order Marc to heal rather than compete in the 2nd race, which caused him to miss the entire season and more.
I wonder why Honda did not just put Marc on his MotoGP bike with power limited to 50-60%?
Did not Mick Doohan return from a bad injury to eventually win another Championship? How much time elapsed between the injury and his return to prior form?
“I wonder why Honda did not just put Marc on his MotoGP bike with power limited to 50-60%?”
It’s due to the strict official testing rules and this was outside of the official MotoGP testing schedule. While this wasn’t his race bike, it is a RC213, not a CBR1000, so given what they spent just to put him on a track, I expect they made this feel as close as possible to his race bike, even if 100% wasn’t possible. I think calling it a “Superbike” is a misnomer. To my knowledge, the only place these have been raced is Isle of Man (where they were handily beaten..), but never WSBK.
I did not know the RC213V-S was homologated for superbike.
It is not. I was thinking the same thing. Almost thought of correcting Dirck. The bike is kinda a tweener at this point. Without a pneumatic valves and seamless transmission its definitely not current spec Moto GP, but it does have the basic frame and motor architecture. Around 210 HP with the motor kit is no where near Moto GP though.
Thanks guys. Sloppy on my part. Now fixed.
I hope Marc will fully recover before he does what he does best , a world champion of his caliber does not come along very often. Also a great ambassador for the sport .
I don’t think MM wants to go through this again, it will show in his riding.
The other racers enjoyed a shot at the top, it will show in their riding.
I just hope the people looking out for these young men have their best interests at heart.
Hardly- they are worried about their money ticket.
Depression and doubt begins to creep in the other garages in the paddock.
Will be interesting to see how Dovi does on the Aprilia.
As much as I’d like to see him back in the office, I hope Marquez takes it slow and waits until he is 100%.
Hard to say what 100% means. Bone strength? Muscle recovery/fitness? Fine tuning of riding skills? I’m fairly confident that Marc will be cautious about risking further bone injuries. My guess is that he will recover his skills and fitness fairly quickly once the bones are fully knitted.
Just like 2015’s hard lessons for Marc, 2020 may well make him a more well-rounded racer.
I think the bone strength is what everyone is concerned with. He hasn’t displayed much caution in his career. If he were to wreck that bone again he might never have a working arm again. What a sad way it would be for a world class athlete to live out his years..
He’ll charge ahead 100% as usual. Young and dumb and full of…bone grafts! He keep riding until he can’t ride any longer as that’s just his way.
That’s just what they do. Wouldn’t be where he is if it weren’t true I suppose.
Absolutely.
These guys are all A type personality athletes. They race, tired, bruised, hurt, broken, crippled. It’s what they do. They have no other mind set.
Absolutely.