Marc Marquez is facing a fundamental week for his future in MotoGP. For several weeks he has maintained that he is under contract with Honda and that he wants the best for the project to which he has been linked for 10 seasons, but also that he is evaluating various options for next year after a disappointing test at Misano. This has increased rumors of a possible move to Gresini Racing, and now the eight-time world champion comes to the home event for the golden wing brand, the Japanese Grand Prix.
The driver from Cervera will therefore find himself facing the managers of the Japanese company. It is expected to establish whether he will respect the contract that binds him to them for 2024 or, on the contrary, if both will terminate their union and the Catalan will have the green light to join Ducati. On Wednesday Marquez attended an event at Honda’s engineering school in Tokyo, although only at the weekend in Motegi will he be able to meet all the top management, led by Shinji Aoyama.
In the midst of all this, the #93 will simultaneously have to face the 14th round of the current season, on a track that brings back good memories, given that in Motegi, for example, he was proclaimed world champion in 2014 and in 2016. Furthermore, this event comes after the Indian Grand Prix, the best for Honda since Austin – where Alex Rins won with the RC213V of Team LCR – with Marquez returning to the podium in the Sprint of on Saturday and Joan Mir who finished the long race on Sunday in fifth place.
Speaking ahead of the Japanese GP, Marquez himself confirmed that it will be a special weekend for him, and that he hopes the team can do “something nice” for the fans who cheer him on fervently, after a difficult 2023 season.
“Motegi is always a special race, especially when you are a Honda rider,” began Marc, “We have had many memorable moments in the past, winning championships or returning to pole last year, so I hope we can do something nice for give the fans a reason to cheer for us.”
“The conditions at Motegi tend to change a lot, so we will have to adapt as the weekend progresses, but our overall objective remains the same: to make constant progress and achieve the best possible result,” he continued.
Joan Mir, for his part, does not believe he can have a good level at Motegi as in India, in his first Japanese GP as a Honda rider, where he hopes to be able to count on the RC213V prototype tested in the Misano tests, as he confirmed last year weekend.
“I can’t wait to race at Motegi as a Honda rider. The fans there are always fantastic and I can’t wait to race there again. We come from a weekend in India where we managed to be consistent throughout, with a good final result, and I hope we can do it again in Japan.”
“But I think the weekend will be more difficult, so we’ll see what happens in the end. The important thing is to prepare to finish the season in the best possible way,” said the Majorcan.
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