Why Marc Marquez was right to shun MotoGP’s kart race in Japan

It is inevitable that, under Liberty Media, greater emphasis will be placed on turning MotoGP races into bigger fan engagement opportunities. It’s the path Formula 1 has steadily trod since the US company took over ownership in 2017. And it’s not exactly a bad thing, either.

Several Formula 1 drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, kicked up a fuss at the British Grand Prix over a Lego karting race that replaced the traditional parade ahead of the main event. The seven-time champion complained that more was being asked of the drivers without thought for better compensation.

It’s a reasonable enough request… as much as you can consider, anyway, for people so handsomely compensated for their profession. The kart race went off with everyone present and smiles all round, while the fans got something slightly more memorable than a meaningless wave from drivers doing very little to hide just how much they wanted to be anywhere else but on the back of a truck.

The organisers at the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix opted for a similar pre-race event to entertain the gathering crowds, with all of the riders placed into karts for a head-to-head contest around the Motegi circuit.

MotoGP has enjoyed some big PR wins this year, particularly with its Tuk Tuk race at the beginning of the year in Thailand.

Overshadowing the pre-race event in Japan, however, was the ‘stunt double’ standing in for Marc Marquez. It wasn’t a particularly convincing swap: not like the good old days of Steve Parrish standing in for a worse-for-wear Barry Sheene at Suzuki during a qualifying session.

Explaining afterwards, Marquez said of his doppelganger: “There’s a bit of a fine line,” Marquez said. “Obviously I get the show, but we’re fighting for the championship, not for a bit of fun and go-karts doing laps. 

“For the Warm-Up, I said I needed ice, and one of the team members came out and said it’d be cool if a stunt double turned up. It was a bit of a ‘hold my drink’ moment, and they caught on. I have to prioritise. I’ve had a telling-off, but that’s the way it is. Right now we have to be selfish and perform at our best when it counts, which is in the races.”

This isn’t the first time this year Marquez has skipped out on big fan engagement moments. He was due to be at MotoGP’s Outernet event in London ahead of the British Grand Prix, but was quietly replaced by LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira.

“Because I understand that six hours [at en event] even on Thursday is not the best for the performance, for the physical condition for a rider,” he said about this at the time. “And in the end, I attended you [the media] in the same here in the circuit.”

Now, as a member of the media, I know where I’d rather have the biggest draw in the paddock, and therefore a major website traffic driver. But I also understand the need to bring MotoGP to the people; I actively encourage it, even for MotoGP to do more.

What this, and the Motegi situation, show is that, for all of its hopes to grow MotoGP, the championship holds little power over Marquez. That’s not dissimilar to Valentino Rossi before him. Every sport has had it at one time or another.

But his point about being in a championship fight and needing to prioritise himself is completely valid. The warm-up session was extended from 10 minutes to 20 minutes, so the riders could try the hard tyre they hadn’t touched all weekend following blistering issues in the sprint on the other compounds.

Motegi is a hard circuit on a rider’s physical condition, with the excessive braking forced mandating Brembo’s biggest discs to be used by everyone. Now consider Marquez is operating with a right arm that is, as his surgeon said recently, at 50% of its full capacity following the shoulder injury he suffered this time last year in Indonesia.

MotoGP’s current format is brutal on riders. Every race weekend is a sprint. Their weekend hangs in the balance from Friday, with the need to break into the top 10 at the end of Practice to ensure a guaranteed Q2 qualifying spot. The danger has increased significantly with every round featuring two mass starts. And then there is all of the media, PR and fan activities on top of that.

The riders have to take a great deal of blame for this situation. Without a proper union, they had basically no say when MotoGP decided it was pressing on with its sprint plans for 2023. And it looks like they can do little to stop the introduction of an extra qualifying session for the sprint grid for next year.

The championship will always look to maximise the show: it’s a business, after all. But it does have a duty of care that sometimes feels like is ignored in the pursuit of a better Instagram reel.

MotoGP needs Marquez on its side to help grow the championship in the immediate future. But it can’t forget that he’ll be of little use if the punishing schedule leads to further physical problems in the wake of his numerous injuries, to the point where he considers his career untenable.

The other side of ‘kart-gate’ is that the Japanese Grand Prix was a must-win weekend for Marquez and Ducati, whether they wanted to publicly admit it or not. After the missed opportunity of Austria, and the great uncertainty of Indonesia this weekend, Japan was a make-or-break moment in the 2026 title battle.

A double victory, his fifth of the campaign, has put him just two points behind Jorge Martin. Crucially, it gives him some room to play with come Indonesia. Marquez has never finished a grand prix at Mandalika, and returns this year with the bitter memory of the crash that badly injured his shoulder in 2025.

Ducati won last year with Fermin Aldeguer, but the factory bikes were nowhere. The heat-resistant rear tyre carcass that Michelin uses in Thailand, Brazil and Austria has caused the Desmosedicis problems since Indonesia last year. Aldeguer’s victory was something of an outlier because his riding style suits it better.

Marquez had good pace in Austria, with only a brake issue thwarting him, and he was on course for a podium in Thailand before a wheel failure. And, of course, he won on the stiffer carcass in Japan. So, he can extract more from the Ducati on it. But, typically, it’s been a tyre that Aprilia has excelled on.

Martin is on a good run of form now on the RS-GP, and he will be hard to beat. A strong weekend in Mandalika against a weak one for Marquez could be the turning point in this year’s world championship battle.

It’s understandable, then, that Marquez has taken on a more serious approach in these final, crucial stages of the 2026 season. This is a rider who has come from 102 points back to be one of two realistic candidates to win. Once again, he’s overcome injury and adapted his riding style to put himself in contention.

He has nothing to prove at this point, but there is no escaping what an eighth world title, through everything he’s faced in 2026, would do for his legacy. There’s also no hiding from the fact that, given his physical struggles, as well as the expected threat Pedro Acosta will pose on a Ducati next season, Marquez may never get a better opportunity to be world champion again.

With all of that at stake, I think you can forgive him for missing a kart race. After all, if you’re a Marc Marquez fan, what would mean more to you: his participation in a PR event, or his victory last Sunday?