The first collective tests of the 2023 season have shown that Honda has not yet found the right key to revitalize the RC213V. If we listen to Marc Marquez’s statements after the tests, not even the specifications chosen convince him: “It’s very similar to the one we tested in Valencia in November, and it has the same traction problems,” agreed the Spaniard.
The Tokyo manufacturer has three weeks to get something out of the hat for the final test at Portimao (March 11 and 12), before the World Championship begins on March 26 on the same circuit in the Algarve. Nothing suggests that the technical department of the Japanese team will be able to make a change to a prototype that seems absolutely stagnant, a circumstance that worries the offices of the golden-winged company a lot.
Waiting for a reaction that at this point should be classified almost as a miracle, the words that the driver from Cervera said to the bigwigs of HRC last year on the occasion of the meeting held in Austria, while he was still convalescing after the fourth operation on his right arm.
“This is to win!” the #93 rider told Tetsuhiro Kuwata and Shinichi Kokubu, two of Honda’s top executives, in one of the team offices, showing them the scar that runs along his right arm. “I want to do it with Honda, but if I don’t succeed, I will make a living,” added the Catalan, according to the Amazon Prime documentary “Marc Marquez: ALL IN”, presented in Madrid on Sunday.
When asked about the strength of this declaration, Marquez has chosen to tone down his vehemence in recent weeks. Since he returned to wearing the racing suit, his speech has focused on reiterating that his goal is to return to the top with Honda and that he does not want to consider any other scenario outside of this.
Paolo Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati Corse Sporting Director
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Despite this, not even he manages to hide the frustration he feels, which does not go unnoticed by those around him, aware that a possible exit from the scene, which seemed impossible until a few years ago, is starting to seem like a real possibility.
At this point, one wonders what the multiple champion’s alternatives might be. Logically, if his goal is to conquer his ninth crown, the most direct route currently is to get on a Ducati.
“It’s not that Ducati doesn’t need an extraterrestrial like Marc, it’s that it already has its own,” said Paolo Ciabatti, with a clear reference to the last title, which the Bolognese manufacturer celebrated with Pecco Bagnaia. Based on the performance of much of the 2022 driver line-up and recent testing in Malaysia, one might get the impression that Borgo Panigale is full of ‘extraterrestrials’, as they are colloquially referred to.
“But only one has won the World Championship, leading more than 270 laps, with an advantage of over 200 over the second, which was Quartararo. Never say never, but Marquez is 30 years old and we have riders five or six years younger, with a margin growth. I don’t think Ducati needs Marc, and I say this with the utmost respect,” declared Ciabatti.
“We already have enough riders eager to join the factory team without thinking of signing him. Obviously, if he called us tomorrow to ask for a meeting, we wouldn’t hang up the phone. But the right time for Marc to sign for Ducati was a few years ago, not this is the moment”, concluded the Italian manager.
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