Honda chief recalls the ‘lowest point’ they hit with Marc Marquez before he made Ducati move

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Honda enjoyed almost a decade of sheer dominance with Marc Marquez after handing the Spaniard his MotoGP debut in 2013, yet hit a real ‘low’ point before he left in 2023.

The Japanese brand’s demise and the emergence of Ducati as the force to beat saw the 32-year-old jump ship to join Gresini for the 2024 MotoGP season. Getting the chance to ride a Desmosedici proved too enticing, so Marquez bought himself out of his contract for Honda.

Marquez felt Honda wasted paying him the highest salary that a premier class rider had ever earned as their RC213V was unable to fight at the front. His decision to join Gresini returned Marquez to the top step of the podium three times and also get a move to Ducati for 2025.

Only Alex Rins has even won with the RC213V since Marquez’s last victory with Honda at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Spaniard triumphed for LCR at the 2023 Grand Prix of the Americas while Marquez was absent for the second of three rounds with his hand injury.

Honda chief cites the 2023 German Grand Prix as their ‘lowest point’ with Marc Marquez

Marquez missed a total of five Grand Prix during the 2023 MotoGP season in what proved to be his final year with Honda. The Spaniard sat out the Argentina, Americas, Spanish, German and Dutch Grands Prix that season, and would also only get on one podium with P3 in Japan.

HRC head of marketing and communications Harry Lloyd even cites the 2023 German Grand Prix as one of the ‘lowest points’ that Honda endured before Marquez left the team to get a Ducati. He did not race at the Sachsenring after suffering an array of injuries in the warm-up.

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Lloyd said on the Paddock Pass Podcast: “The change, I’d say, probably overall is a seven or so. But when you speak about the tough times, Sachsenring 2023 with the crashes and the injury and [Marquez] missing the race, I’d say probably that was one of the lowest points.

“If we’re really going from that low of a point, then I think the turnaround has been almost a nine or a 10. Now, we have riders, not just in the Honda HRC Castrol team but also the riders in LCR and Aleix [Espargaro, our test rider]. Everyone is positive about this project.

“The doom and gloom that was there for a good two [to] three years has started to lift. And everybody now can see that everybody in this project is pushing forward. There is still work to do, but now there is progress [and] plans for the future.”

Marc Marquez missed the 2023 German GP after suffering thumb, ankle and rib injuries

Marquez crashed a total of five times over the 2023 German GP weekend, with his fall in the Sunday morning warm-up the costliest. The then-Honda star suffered a left thumb and ankle injuries, plus a rib fracture which would also rule him out of the following Dutch TT at Assen.

The Spaniard was set to start the 2023 German GP from P7 on the grid after getting through Q1 to post a 1:22.013, albeit 0.604 seconds off the pole position lap of Ducati ace Francesco Bagnaia. He was even the quickest Honda at the Sachsenring, one of Marquez’s best tracks.

After Marquez almost retired over his arm injury at the 2020 Spanish GP, the Cervera native won his first race after returning at the 2021 German GP. It was even his eighth MotoGP win at the Sachsenring following his victories every season between his debut in 2013 and 2019.