After several complicated months and far from the desired results, Marc Márquez finally achieved his first podium of 2023 in a premier class race. He finished third in the Japanese GP, right at his team’s home round: Repsol Honda. He was behind Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
The six-time premier class champion emphasized the importance of the result, which had been long sought after: ‘It was clearly an important podium: we had been looking for it all season and it came very late. But it came at Honda’s home circuit, on a day when I took advantage of the situation, of the weather conditions‘.
Regarding the race incidents for him, Márquez commented: ‘I tried to manage the race in the best way possible. When we changed tires [bike] on the first lap, I knew the race would be very, very long. And during the race I had different moments: at the beginning I had a bit too much difficulty, but then I was trying to manage the tire and when the track was in true wet conditions I started attacking and I started to be faster and faster‘.
Finally, Márquez praised the riders who finished ahead of him: ‘A huge race from these two guys, fighting against those fighting for the championship is not easy to take the risk they take. But we will enjoy the podium‘.
