Marc Marquez will return to MotoGP this weekend in Austin

THE Repsol Honda Team have announced that Marc Marquez will return to the MotoGP World Championship at this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas alongside his teammate, Pol Espargaro. 

Marquez has missed the last two races, in Indonesia and Argentina, as a result of the crash he had in morning warm up at the former.

The crash resulted in a return of Marquez’ diplopia issues which forced him out of last weekend’s Argentinian Grand Prix. 

Yesterday (5 March 2022), Marquez returned to track action for the first time since his Indonesian get-off aboard a Honda CBR600RR. The conclusions from that first contact with a bike since his latest diplopia episode were clearly positive, allowing him to make the trip to Austin for this weekend’s race.

Marquez has a fantastic record in both the Circuit of the Americas and the US as a whole. He won on his only trip to Laguna Seca when it last appeared on the calendar in 2013, was unbeaten in Moto2 and MotoGP in Indianapolis, and has failed to win only once in Texas, when an engine braking glitch caused him to crash out of the 2019 race.

Ahead of his anticipated return this weekend, Marquez said, “Of course I am very happy to be back, it’s a great feeling to return and especially to do it at one of my favourite tracks. No matter the situation, I really enjoy riding in Texas and have incredible memories there.”

Marquez continued, “We have some work to do after missing two races and the whole Argentina weekend so I am not here to set one target at the moment. There’s many things to do and consider, but the important thing is that we are back on the bike this weekend.”

Marquez’ intentions will still be, of course, to fight for this year’s world title. Ordinarily, missing two races would cause problems, however the chaotic and inconsistent start to the season means that he is only one point behind pre-season favourite Francesco Bagnaia, 24 points behind reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo, and 34 points behind championship leader Aleix Espargaro.

Pol Espargaro, on the other hand, has never finished better than sixth at the Circuit of the Americas, but comes into this weekend’s race seeking redemption after crashing out of potential podium contention in Argentina last weekend. 

Espargaro said, “After the disappointment of last race I am looking forward to riding again this week. Austin was not the easiest circuit for us last year but with the new bike it’s interesting to come and compare what we did last year to this year.”

He added, “Already it looks like there will be many people in the mix for the championship this year so we need to get back to scoring points and putting together weekends like the start of the year.”