Photo: motogp.com
If we are willing to overlook all the weird things happening with the latest MotoGP regulations, the debut round of the 2014 season at Losail in Quatar will be an extremely interesting one. For starters, the reigning champion Marc Marquez is not fully recovered from his fractured fibula. Despite heeding Dr.Mir’s advice and taking a break from riding, the young Spaniard clearly hadn’t enough time to heal his foot.
Marquez openly admits that he knows he‘s not 100 percent fit to race in Qatar, but he is willing to give his best shot, and will try to qualify as good as possible for the Qatar round, trying to be very fast straight form Free Practice one. Marc Marquez had a casual crash during his training on a dirt track in Lleida, near Barcelona on the 19th of February. The doctors said his injury did not need surgery, but needed at least 3-4 weeks of rest.
While Marquez was unable to train, we’ve seen pretty tough testing and racing simulations during the second test in Sepang, at Phillip Island and in Qatar, with Aleix Espargaro being exceptionally fast on his new M1-powerd Forward Yamaha bike. Even more, 9-time World Champion Valentino Rossi also showed a much better shape and seemed to have adapted to his Yamaha bike quite well.
Add in the 2013 runner-up Jorge Lorenzo who will also be all over Marquez to get his crown back, Dani Pedrosa looking once more for his first world title. And to make things even more interesting, 2014 brings the end of the contracts all 4 top riders have with their teams. So you see, 20-23 March will be a truly hot season opener…
Follow this link for an interview with Marc Marquez. Requires free registaration, like always.
While Marquez was unable to train, we’ve seen pretty tough testing and racing simulations during the second test in Sepang, at Phillip Island and in Qatar, with Aleix Espargaro being exceptionally fast on his new M1-powerd Forward Yamaha bike. Even more, 9-time World Champion Valentino Rossi also showed a much better shape and seemed to have adapted to his Yamaha bike quite well.
Add in the 2013 runner-up Jorge Lorenzo who will also be all over Marquez to get his crown back, Dani Pedrosa looking once more for his first world title. And to make things even more interesting, 2014 brings the end of the contracts all 4 top riders have with their teams. So you see, 20-23 March will be a truly hot season opener…
Follow this link for an interview with Marc Marquez. Requires free registaration, like always.
Google News