Marc Marquez has already started making choices for 2023. On the second day of MotoGP testing at Sepang he dropped one of the three new bikes he tried, leaving only two and will focus on just one of them for tomorrow.
The Repsol Honda Spaniard told the press that despite the short time available on dry roads, it was enough to test the new bikes and take options: ‘Today unfortunately we only did 25 laps on dry, but it was enough to test the three black bikes. This is a bit difficult because every time you go out on track it’s a different bike and with different things, but it’s the time to do it in pre-season and someone has to do it at Honda. Today, the bike with the Repsol colours is not in the garage because it’s the 2022 bike and we focused on the three different black bikes. We tested all three bikes, we’ve already ruled one out, and tomorrow we have to continue with the work.’
Without saying exactly which bike he has discarded, Marquez stated that priorities must be set at this stage, and dismissed the one whose potential he did not like so much: ‘At the end of the day tomorrow we only have one day and you have to prioritize. The one I feel better on is the one I’ll choose for tomorrow, to keep working. It was a bike that was very different and I didn’t feel really good potential on that bike, but some interesting things. They have to analyse it and now they have a month to continue on one path or another.’
The #93 also clarified that the final decision will only be made after the Portimao tests, and until then testing and experimenting will continue: ‘The final decision will be on the last day at the last test. The team is doing a very good job on the Japanese side and also European side, because they organize very well what we are testing. We have several, several different things, little things, big things, and it’s easy to lose your way. So we are using a lot of time to compare, to be very precise so as not to lose our way. It is true that we are still far from the top and this is obvious. Today it was time to try things out and tomorrow to focus more on the pace, on testing the small details. But we couldn’t, so tomorrow we will continue with the test. I am trying the three different bikes because I will say my comment in Portimao, but they will decide to improve maybe both bikes, or maybe one in one direction. I don’t know.’
