Photo: Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez’s crash last week during a dirt bike training session ruled him out of the current testing session at Sepang, but it looks like the young champion will also miss the tire test scheduled at the beginning of March at Phillip Island in Australia.
Tensions arose in the MotoGP paddock as Honda appears to have asked the Race Direction to allow Marquez to test the new Bridgestone tires at the Losail Circuit later. Both Yamaha and Ducati objected and said that such a move would provide Marquez and Honda with an unfair advantage in Qatar, broken fibula or not.
The three manufacturers agreed with Bridgestone they would all be willingly helping to develop the new tires, and Phillip Island was chosen as the location for the 3-5 March test. While they first wanted to send in the test riders, Bridgestone asked that the test be carried out with the factory riders, in order to provide the best feedback possible.
However, the situation cooled down after Marquez’ recent check-up with Dr. Mir in Barcelona. Dr. Xavier Mir advised that the reigning champion rested and avoided putting his leg through any strain. Even so, it’s hard to believe that Marquez’ broken fibula will be restored to 100% functionality and strength by the kick-off round in Qatar, even if the fracture did not need surgery.
One month ahead of the 23 March race and with any sort of test riding out of the question, we can only hope that Marquez’fracture heals as much as possible. He may be the defending champion and a very fast rider, but it’s at least Lorenzo looking forward to gun him down on the track… and a surprisingly fast Aleix Espargaro which is hard to rule out.
The three manufacturers agreed with Bridgestone they would all be willingly helping to develop the new tires, and Phillip Island was chosen as the location for the 3-5 March test. While they first wanted to send in the test riders, Bridgestone asked that the test be carried out with the factory riders, in order to provide the best feedback possible.
However, the situation cooled down after Marquez’ recent check-up with Dr. Mir in Barcelona. Dr. Xavier Mir advised that the reigning champion rested and avoided putting his leg through any strain. Even so, it’s hard to believe that Marquez’ broken fibula will be restored to 100% functionality and strength by the kick-off round in Qatar, even if the fracture did not need surgery.
One month ahead of the 23 March race and with any sort of test riding out of the question, we can only hope that Marquez’fracture heals as much as possible. He may be the defending champion and a very fast rider, but it’s at least Lorenzo looking forward to gun him down on the track… and a surprisingly fast Aleix Espargaro which is hard to rule out.
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