For the GP in Austin, Texas, the HRC team will have to do without Marc Marquez, who as communicated yesterday he will still rest to recover from the injury occurred in the race at Portimao. Joan Mir is back, also recovering from an injury caused by the bad fall in the first Sprint race of the season, which forced him to miss the last race in Argentina, and will be joined by test rider Stefan Bradl, who takes the place of the champion Spanish.
Bradl’s last race in Austin dates back to 2016, while his appearances in 2013 and 2014 astride the Honda MotoGP saw two top-five finishes.
Joan Mir’s words:
“I’m ready to get back on the bike in America. I was able to spend this week at home fully recovering from Saturday’s crash and getting back to training. Last year I had a good race in Austin and Honda also have a very strong record there “So the goal is to have a consistent weekend and avoid problems. If we manage to score a full race weekend, I think we can learn a lot and take another step forward because you learn more about Honda in the two races.”
Stefan Bradl:
“First of all I want to wish Marc all the best in his recovery, as Honda we need him back on track. I arrive in Austin after a few days of testing in Jerez where we were able to try a few things with the bike. It will be interesting to ride COTA again, I was last there in 2016 and it will give me the chance to test the 2023 RC213V on a very different type of track than what I have ridden so far this year. Let’s have a productive weekend and see what’s possible.”