‘Marc Marquez opts to stay, he let rumours grow to tell Honda to step up’
Marquez had been tip🔴ped to stunningly join Gresini Ducati, alongside his brother, in 2024 which would have been one of the most significant moves in MotoGP history.
But, ahead of the San Marino Moto💧GP at Misano on Sunday, new claims emerged that Marquez will stick with Honda and they will cave to his requests of hiring top-notch European engineers.
“Marq💯uez has already decided to stay at Honda, fulfil his contract and try to get back on track in the coming months by working, long and hᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚard, on the creation, evolution and development of the Honda 2024, whose first prototype he will test tomorrow in Misano,” reported.
“There are those who think that Marquez has made that decision for ꧑many days now, but he has let the rumour grow that he was going to Gresini to put pressure on Honda and get the 🅷top managers of HRC (Honda Racing Corporation), its competition department, to step up, select their best engineers in all areas and start working with a European mentality ahead of the 2024 bike.”
Meetings with Honda’s top brass Koji Watanade and Shiniji Aoyama at recent MotoGP rounds have con♌vinced Marquez that the Japanese manufacturer will change its methods, and prioritise hiring European staff to reinvigorate the team, it is reported.
Alberto Puig, Honda team manager, knew that the only way to keep Marquez was to hire the paddock’s best brains in chassis design, aerodynamics, electronics and te🎶lemetry.
Puig had already tried to hire some of MotoGP’s best engineers but was prevented from doing so due to the “arrogance of [Honda] bosses and the fact that the Japanese still believe that no one can teach the🎃m how to build racing motorcycles”, the report states.
The presence of top bo🌳ss Hikaru Tsukamoto at the British MotoGP was to assure Puig that Honda would change their ideas, and allow him to bring in European engineers to appease Marquez.
“In the MotoGP pa💙ddock there are, in fact, not man🐷y Gigi Dall'Igna’s, but there are extraordinary engineers, technicians and designers in almost all the teams on the grid,” the report says.
Marquez has one more year on his current Honda contract - which he has constantly reminded the media at Misano, although i🍸t was speculated that he was cleverly avoiding questions about Gresinꦆi Ducati.
Marquez will test Honda’s 2024 bike at Monday’s M꧂isano test, a day that he has long claimed will be vital in his decision-making🉐 of whether to stay or go.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade cov♌ering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
