EIGHT months after he last raced, six-times world champion MotoGP whizz Marc Márquez has been signed off by his medics and is back in the hotseat in time for the start of the 2021 season.
Qatar, where Marc Márquez hopes to be racing later this month - but in 2016, when Jorge Lorenzo (centre) won it, Andrea Dovizioso (left) came second, and Márquez (right) third
Márquez, 28, broke his right upper arm in a fall on the Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz province) circuit – recently renamed in tribute to the late, great Ángel Nieto – in July 2020, putting paid to the rest of the season and seeing his world title go to relative newcomer, his compatriot Joan Mir.
But the prodigy from Cervera (Lleida province) has now been seen on a pit bike on the Alcarràs circuit as a preliminary to his trip to Qatar for the first Grand Prix of 2021, due to take place on Sunday, March 28.
Reports claim he would be going there anyway, since the Arab kingdom has offered all MotoGP competitors the opportunity to receive both doses of the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 ahead of the race, and the entire squad, including engineers, mechanics and other personnel, are said to have been to the injection station in Doha over last Friday and Saturday for their first jab.
Márquez was waiting for the go-ahead from his medical team first, and now he has been given the green light, will need to take a PCR test 72 hours before his arrival in Doha and another when he lands, before being taken straight to his hotel.
If these are negative, he will have the first injection, as his colleagues have already done.
Conflicting views have been pronounced in Spain about the MotoGP community's vaccines in Doha – and likewise about King Felipe VI's sisters, the Infantas Elena and Cristina, who were immunised whilst visiting their father, King Juan Carlos I, in Abu Dhabi – with some complaining of 'celebrities queue-jumping' and others pointing out that these 'celebrities' have, in fact, left vaccines free for the general public to be given in Spain and without their having cost the taxpayer.
In any case, Márquez is raring to go, and his latest Twitter post, with a video of himself on the pit bike, read, in Spanish and then in English: “Yesterday, after eight months and the doctors' approval in the last check-up, I felt this feeling again – although it was with a mini-moto!”
He included the hashtag #stepbystep.
Despite his optimism, it may still turn out to be too soon – his team, Repsol Honda, has included Márquez in the provisional competitors' list for the Qatar GP, but if he finds he is not ready, will certainly be aiming to get back on the track for the second date of the year, on the Losail circuit, also in Qatar.
“The plan is to start with smaller bikes to get used to the feeling again before going back to riding a MotoGP bike at 300 kilometres per hour,” Márquez explains.
Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig has warned motorsport fans not to get too excited at the moment.
“The reality is that this has been a very tough winter, especially for Marc,” Puig admits.
“At the moment we're looking at the possibility of his racing again, although we still can't specify when it will be.
“Fortunately, the doctors have given him the go-ahead to increase his workload in preparation.
“Let's say that Marc's situation is starting to get back to normal.
“It's clear he's not going to be performing at 100% in his first race. There's very little time left before the season starts and I still don't know whether Marc will be able to race.
“We'll be gradually getting a clearer idea of this as time goes on and the date gets closer.”
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