On the Sepang International Circuit, Marc Márquez returned to its RC213Vs for the first time in 2023 as the first of three days of the MotoGP Test at Sepang marked the start of a new competition season.
Classic Sepang conditions awaited the Spaniard, with temperatures reaching 20°C throughout the day, despite brief showers at lunchtime.
A busy day of testing marked the start of the 2023 season for the Repsol Honda team rider who is entering his 29th year of competition in the premier category, with four different configurations of the Honda RC213V, including three short stories.
After letting his opponents set off from the opening of the track, Marc Márquez took the time to acclimatize on the 213 Honda RC2022V during a handful of laps, aiming to get back into the rhythm of MotoGP after a winter of training. Feeling in great shape, the Repsol Honda team driver then worked until the track closed to evaluate the different options for the Honda HRC. Completing a total of 58 laps, the #93 achieved the 12th fastest time of the opening day, with the situation at the end of the Portimão test remaining the Catalan's main concern.
Marc Márquez : " It was a very busy day, we tried a lot of different things as we usually do in pre-season. In fact, we have three bikes, because the Repsol one was just for starters. This is last year's bike, just to get started and get the feeling back. So we started on the 2022 bike first, just to confirm the feeling, and then we went straight to the new bikes. We tried several bikes and a lot of different things for each of them, getting some interesting information, but now we have to analyze everything to try to progress in the following days. One bike is very similar (to the other 2023s), just with different settings on the front. The character of this bike is therefore a little different but for the moment the times are similar. Of course I could ride it in a different way but the performance is more or less the same, so now they have to analyze why there are positives and negatives, and try to bring those positive things to the normal bike. We will see what happens at the end of the pre-season, in Portimão, where I will evaluate the bike, because there has only been one day so it is very early to understand anything . We're trying different things at the moment and we're working hard, that's what testing is for. We have to continue working because we are far from the top drivers »
Rankinghe results of the MotoGP Test at Sepang J1:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
