Another blow for Marc Marquez. The six-time Moto GP world champion is once again out of the next two races in Argentina and Austin. The Honda rider suffered a heavy fall during practice at the Indonesian Grand Prix and suffers from diplopia, ie double vision.
His team communicated this Tuesday morning that the Spaniard could not hold his place for the Argentinian meeting this Sunday evening. The native of Cervera indeed passed new exams on Monday and despite “a significant improvement in his vision”, he will not be able to hold his place. This diplopia had already appeared last November
If his team has not yet communicated the name of a replacement, it is a new blow in the career of the 29-year-old driver. Because indeed this injury could force him to forfeit the GP of the Americas in Austin the following week, a track where he performs regularly since he won there in each edition between 2013 and 2021, except 2019.
Is the game still worth the candle?
Missing these two races will be a handicap for Marc Marquez who intended to make 2022 the year of his return to the top. The Honda rider had an almost nil 2020 following his crash in his first race at Jerez. This had broken his right humerus. In 2021, the year of his return to the circuits, the Spaniard had managed to come back gradually, winning three successes in the season, but was not yet able to fight for the title.
This season the Spaniard is already 19 points behind the Italian championship leader Enea Bastianini. A gap that will increase further in the coming weeks. This relapse raises questions about the style of the Catalan. Marc Marquez is known for having a very aggressive driving style. With him it’s make or break. In 2018, after his fifth Moto GP title, he declared: “I will not change the way I ride on the track in any way. I have always rode with the maximum intensity and I always will”.
Today, however, his falls risk forcing number 93 to take fewer risks on the track. Even if he expressed in an Instagram post, a few days ago driving “for fun”, his style no longer pays off against a Fabio Quartararo of absolute efficiency and cleanliness. Limitless aggression brings more falls than successes for the Spaniard. At 29, time is running out and Marquez can no longer afford to suffer major injuries against the young guard of the drivers. In order to one day reclaim its throne, rational piloting risks becoming a compulsory step for MM93.
