MotoGP, Puig warns: “Marquez will be even fitter after the break”

Marc Marquez’s Assen weekend was a bumpy one which began with a frightening crash on Friday and continued with a fall in qualifying and a seventh-place finish in the race. A good result considering that Marquez started from twentieth on the grid. Those betting on him for another win after Sachsenring were perhaps left disappointed but it was a positive weekend for the Japanese manufacturer overall. This is what team manager Alberto Puig had to say during an interview with MotoGP.com.

“We knew it wouldn’t be easy”

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“The Sachsenring is a track that really suits the Honda and also Marc Marquez - explains Puig – Marc had the chance and he grabbed it with both hands”. He then spoke about the latest Dutch round: “In the past, Assen has never been an easy track for Honda, not like the Sachsenring, and so it was very tough for all the HRC riders. We knew before we got there that we wouldn’t have an easy time of it in Holland”.

“He could have fought for the podium”

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The Honda team manager analyses Marquez’s performance: “We saw Marc make a great recovery early on. He started twentieth and made up almost ten positions in just one lap, that’s the Marc we know!” So they can roll the shutters down with a smile before heading into the summer break: “On Friday, Marc’s crash made the weekend more complicated. Without that crash, I think he’d have fought for the podium because he wouldn’t have lost the confidence he already had with the RC213V. Honda and the whole team tried to react and overcame this problem but it wasn’t enough. Now it’s time to rest up and prepare for the second part of the season. Marquez showed his commitment and potential at Assen and we can’t wait to see it again in Austria once he’s further recovered after the break”.

Translated by Heather Watson

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