One hundred days after his fourth operation, Marc Marquez was back on board a MotoGP machine for day one of testing at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
This is the first time Marquez has ridden his Repsol Honda machine since the Italian GP in May so the team started the day with a brief run on the standard machine to assess his right arm, before letting the eight-time world champ begin his testing duties.
Marc completed a total of 39 laps before midday managing a time of 1m32.395s, which would have given him 11th place on the starting grid for Sunday’s San Marino GP. Marquez finished the day 18th fastest, 1.1sec behind the opening day’s fastest rider Pecco Bagnaia.
“After 100 days away, wow – these bikes are fast!” said Marc. “It’s the same as when you arrive at the first test after winter, it takes you some time to adjust. It was really good to be back, to ride this bike again and to be with my team. Step by step I felt faster and more comfortable, but I need to work more to gain the strength for longer runs. I was able to try some items for Honda after a few runs because I was feeling good.
“Honda is working a lot, it’s clear. Our target today wasn’t times, it was to do 40 laps and understand our situation. We decided to stop early to try and ride tomorrow. Tonight, I will do a lot of work with physio, ice and stretching to help with the recovery of the arm.”
Teammate, Pol Espargaro suffered swelling and pain in his right wrist from Sunday’s crash, but still managed to improve over his weekend pace and finished ninth fastest.
Day two of testing resumes Wednesday 7 September, 9.00am local time.
