"After vision problems and four arm operations, I'm chasing it like Messi, to see if I get it or not, but this is the goal". Marc Márquez faces winter, the three short months until the start of the MotoGP World Championship (March 26), with the ambition of polishing his physical form and preparing to return to being the Márquez of 2019, the one before the falls and injuries that have martyred him since July 2020. His challenge: to return to being champion.
This is how the pilot from Cervera expressed himself in Barcelona, in an act at the Clínic hospital, in which he made a donation to a solidarity project with the Haitian population.
The Catalan rider also spoke about his physical condition, the new 2023 bike and Leo Messi, whom he professed his admiration.
"I am following a physical recovery program to be 100% -consisting of strengthening the weak muscles that I do not work on the bike, restructuring and repositioning the arm-, I am going to be at a fairly good or very good level, that is what I feel "I always face challenges with the greatest possible ambition. I'm better than in the last three races of 2022, which were good results."
"My objective next year is to fight for the World Championship, I know that we are not starting as favourites, neither Honda nor I. I have to work and Honda too, but we both trust each other and we are going to do the best we know how."
“The physical demand for next year will be very different. It will be bigger. There will be the Sprint Races, in which you cannot manage, you have to go to the maximum, there will be the qualifying session on Saturday morning and the race on Sunday. Therefore, it will be physically more demanding for all the drivers. It's not a fact that I worry a lot. After the fourth operation I have noticed a very big change in my arm, it is not the perfect arm like the left one, but it is getting closer and closer, and I am confident that I will be able to compete at my 100%".
“You have to understand the path to be competitive next year, not just one, the four Hondas on the grid. I'll play it all on one card in February. What we tried in Valencia (in November) is not enough to fight for the World Cup. It means that when I test the bike in Malaysia in February there will be no leeway to change things."
"I will try to work with what they bring us, I have full confidence in Honda. If there is a brand that can turn the situation around in three months, it is Honda. And I see maximum involvement. When they get involved, you can't blame them for anything.
“I ask the Honda engineers to make it a competitive bike, I don't care how, if the front wheel is behind, I want a bike that allows me to be competitive. I will do my best to be, it is my job and my passion. My dream is to fight again for a World Cup with Honda. In the last four races I was on the right track to achieve it."
