Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez’s early racing years were like nothing MotoGP had ever seen before. When he joined Honda, everyone knew he was a talent, but to the extent he delivered? Not so much.
His rise through the Moto2 ranks coincided with the shock retirement of Casey Stoner at the end of the 2012 season.
Despite being crowned MotoGP champion for the second time, he had checked out at the age of 26, and that left a major vacancy at Honda.
It was one that Marquez gladly took, seizing the moment and opportunity to become the youngest champion in history during his rookie campaign.
How would Marc Marquez have performed against Casey Stoner?
Marquez’s ‘best’ performance came before MotoGP, and he battled some really testing times at a young age. It meant that he was well prepared for the premier class, though.
For a while, Marquez was ‘descending into hell’ before learning how to accept losing. After that, he was almost unstoppable.
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Marc Marquez found PR work ‘normal’ compared to Casey Stoner at Honda
Marquez could break more Valentino Rossi records over the next 12 months, as he closes in on the exclusive status of being the greatest of all time.
Honda could already see how great he had the potential to be long before he stepped on a MotoGP bike, but he also brought things that Stoner couldn’t give them after the Aussie retired in 2012.
“We had a lot of hope in Marc – you didn’t need to be a genius to understand from the beginning that he was something special,” said ex-boss Livio Suppo in Mat Oxley’s Marc The Magnificent biography. “From the start of his career, he already showed something unbelievable.
“At that time, the Repsol Honda team was like a mecca for Spanish riders, so it wasn’t difficult to convince him to join Honda. When we started working together, I knew Marc was really unique.
“It was easier than with Casey, because for Marc it was normal to do PR and those kinds of things and his character was easier than Casey’s,” Suppo continued.
“I remember when we signed him, I told him, ‘Now you’re young, and you’re a nice kid, but in a few years you’ll be super-great and super-famous, with all the girls around you, so most probably you will become an a——-.’
“When I left Honda at the end of 2017, I went to his motorhome to say goodbye, and I said, ‘Do you remember what I said in 2012?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I remember.’ And I said, ‘You know what, you didn’t change at all.'”
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How Marc Marquez nearly ended up becoming a MotoGP rider in 2012
Heading into the last few races of the 2011 Moto2 season, Marquez was embroiled in a battle with Stefan Bradl for the title.
With three races to go, he crashed at the Australian Grand Prix in brutal fashion. It cost him points that weekend, as he was forced to start Sunday’s race from the back.
One race later in Malaysia, the extra pressure the crash put him under contributed to his downfall, as he suffered a mega shunt and ended up with diplopia (double vision).
It killed his championship charge and ended his hopes of riding in MotoGP for 2012, which Honda had been gearing up to sort out if he won the Moto2 title. Instead, he had to wait another year.
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