Marc Marquez finishes Austrian MotoGP - his first completed race of this year
The Repsol Honda star has endured a tumultuous 2023 full of crashes and injuries and, heading into the Red Bull Ring this wee☂kend, had failed to complete a single grand prix all🐲 year.
But in Austria, the 10th rouꦦnd of the MotoGP season, Marquez completed an incident-free ride to restore some confidence.
He scored poi🌄nts on a Sunday for the first time since the 202𒉰2 Malaysian MotoGP.
The same cannot be said for his t🍸eammate Joan Mir, though.
He crashed out in Austria, and has not completed a grand prix since the open♉ing weekend at Portimao.
It means Honda’s factory duo, in🐭 20 available attempts, have fin𝓰ished just one Sunday race each this season.
Mir’s misery had ev𓃲en extended to contemplating retirement, aged just 25, during the su🔯mmer break.
Marquez returned at Silve𝓡rston𒀰e stating that he would dedicate the remainder of 2023 to rebuilding his confidence, and developing a bike to compete next year.
His weekend in Austria, which featured neꦬw aerodynamics, seemed dedicated to that methodology.
Marquez is 19th in the MotoGP🔯 standings with 19 points (he had scored some in sprint race✨s previously).
Mir i💯s 26th in the standing🦋s, with five points, the lowest of any full-time rider.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports💦 for a decade covering everything from Aꦛmerican sports, to football, to F1.
