After several challenging months and being away from the desired results, Marc Márquez finally achieved his first podium of 2023 in a premier class race. He finished third at the Japanese GP, right in the home round of his team, Repsol Honda, just behind Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
In a press conference, the six-time world champion of the premier class emphasized the importance of the result, which had been sought for a long time: ‘Of course it was an important podium: we were looking for it all the season and arrived very late. But arrived in Honda’s home circuit, in a day that I took profit from the situation, from the weather condition’.
Regarding the development of the race for him, Márquez commented: ‘I tried to manage the race in the best way. When we changed the tyres [bike] on the first lap I knew that the race would be very, very long. And during the race you have different moments: in the beginning I was struggling a little bit too much, but then I was trying to manage the tyre and when the track was in real wet conditions I started to attack and I started to be faster and faster’.
Finally, Márquez praised the riders who finished ahead of him: ‘Massive race from these two guys, that fighting against the championship it’s not easy to take the risk that they take. But we will enjoy the podium’.