Marquez set to start new MotoGP season with fitness doubts

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  • Question Marc: Marquez is unsure whether he is fit enough to be on the pace in Qatar.

    The new MotoGP season starts in Qatar this weekend with a question mark over the fitness of world champion Marc Marquez.

    The 21-year-old Spanish sensation, who became the youngest ever champion in motorcycling’s top category in his rookie season, broke his right leg during training on a dirt-track bike six weeks ago.

    The injury meant the Honda rider missed two of his team’s three pre-season tests in Malaysia and Australia, although the leg was not put in plaster, and his lack of time on his MotoGP bike may put him at a disadvantage as he begins the defence of his crown.

    Discussing his fitness, Marquez said: “It’s getting better but we won’t see my level until I get on the bike. It might take some time to get on the pace. It’s difficult because I’ve lost over a month of training and five days ago I couldn’t even walk. I can walk now and I think if I can do that I should be ok on the bike.

    “It was difficult to be at home whilst everyone else was testing. Anyway, I feel ok now and I’m looking forward to the start of the season. I’m not sure the objective is to fight for victory here though, I will need to see how my foot is over the course of the weekend.”

    His main rival and compatriot Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has also had fitness problems in the close season.

    He said: “Physically, I am close to 100 per cent but I have had three operations over the winter and I’ve had to work really hard to get my fitness back. The first race is crucial, you don’t want to make a mistake here and crash out, it’s so important to be on the podium at least.”

    His team-mate is legend Valentino Rossi who is looking forward to starting his 19th season in the elite series. At the age of 35 years and 35 days on race day in Qatar, he will become the oldest former premier class World Champion to take part in an top-class race since Giacomo Agostini in 1977.

    NGM Forward Racing’s new recruit Aleix Espargaro has been impressively consistent towards the top of the timesheets in testing on his Forward Yamaha.

    He said: “I have a very competitive package and I’m really excited to start racing. The million dollar question is whether we can show our good pace in testing over race distance. Our race simulations have shown that we can. The end of last year was hard for me, I lost some focus and it was a hard decision to change teams. But I’m very happy now with the decision I made!”

    His brother Pol is racing for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team but they are not the first brothers to line up on the grid. The last time that two brothers competed together in a MotoGP race was at the USA GP in 2010 at Laguna Seca, with Nicky Hayden on the factory Ducati and Roger Lee Hayden riding as a replacement for Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda. Nicky finishing 5th and Roger Lee 11th. 

    New regulations are in force this season which means there are two categories, Factory and Open, which have been introduced to level the playing field and produce closer racing.

    Bikes in both categories have to run the same standardised electronics unit, but Factory bikes can use their own software while Open category bikes use the software that comes with the ECU.

    As a reward to taking the entire standardised package, Open bikes can use 24 litres of fuel as opposed to 20 for Factory bikes.

    Open bikes can use 12 engines per rider during the season while Factory bikes can only use five per man.

    Lorenzo said: “In an ideal world we would have 10 or 15 riders competing to win the title in one class and that is the goal.”

    Aleix Espargaro said: “We are racing for the fans and we have to put on a good show. It would be great to see more bikes being competitive and hopefully that’s what we will see.”

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