The next race will be held on Marquez’s native track at Circuito de Jerez in Andalusia, Spain. While his arm injury has healed sufficiently to allow him to race, doctors do not want him practicing between rounds so that it can heal completely. Marquez hinted that fans should not expect miracles. I didn’t enjoy (the race), but it was the most important step for my recovery.” During this time I felt a lot of support from everyone, Honda, my family and friends. I had something inside I needed to take care of. I’m a person who likes to keep everything inside, but I wasn’t able to control.

“It was a mix of emotions this weekend,” Marquez said.

It took a few laps for Marc Marquez to feel comfortable in traffic after missing nearly all of 2020, but he was happy with a seventh-place finish. Aleix Espargaro was five seconds ahead of him and just under five seconds back lay his brother Alex Marquez. Marquez was actually 13 seconds behind the winner Quartararo – in a safe bubble. “Just to finish the race – doesn’t matter the position – but to finish on the lead lap, 15 seconds behind the lead rider was something impossible to dream,” Marquez said. But that was not the most important takeaway from the race. He trails points’ leader Fabio Quartararo by 52 points and sits 14th in the standings. “That is what I felt at the first part of the race.”įor his seventh-place finish, Marquez earned nine points. In the first part of the race I felt like when you’re playing in school with the big guys that you don’t know (and) where they are much better than you. “When I felt better was in the mid part of the race when I was alone,” Marquez said after the race. He admitted to being a little rusty and uncomfortable in the opening stages of the race, but when the checkers waved, he was riding comfortably. He has six MotoGP titles to his credit and a second-place finish in the points in seven seasons.Ī successful surgery fueled speculation that he might still be able to compete last year in a season delayed and shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but further evaluation necessitated a second surgery and the loss of the remaining races.įinally, Marquez was able to race in the Portuguese Grand Prix. In fact, Marquez was set to defend the last four championships at this level. He recovered from the first incident and was challenging for a podium finish when the second accident shattered his right arm. Marquez was set to defend his 2019 championship last July when he crashed twice in the season opener. This is only the fifth time in a 130-race MotoGP career that he has finished worse than sixth. Marc Marquez finished seventh in his return from injury to the MotoGP series in the Portuguese Grand Prix in a field of 21 riders – and he could not have been happier.

Marc márquez motogp