Marc Marquez ‘confused’ by 2022 Honda, ‘talked a lot’ with Mick Doohan
Marquez will take part in his fourth MotoGP race since making his return at Aragon, with Phillip Island potentially his best chance to claim a podium or win.
The eight-time world champion has been mightily impressive in his return which included a superb pole position in wet conditions at Motegi.
However, the 2022 Honda is still providing surprises for Marquez, who has confirmed he’s confused by how the RC213V behaves.
"This new Honda, the 2022 Honda, is a Honda that makes me a bit confused," added Marquez. "Sometimes I expect that we will struggle but then for some reason we are going better.
"Here [I expect] to be struggling quite a bit but on another side it’s one of my favourite tracks. We will see and we will start with a positive mentality.
"Then we will see over the weekend where we are and it’s true that it’s a weekend where I need to try a few things for the future. It can affect a bit your weekend but now is the time to do it."
Marquez has already tested and used significant upgrades from Honda including the new Kalex swingarm that was introduced at last month’s two-day Misano test.
But Marquez is expected to use part of this weekend at Phillip Island as another testing opportunity as he and Honda look to bring themselves back to the front of MotoGP in 2023.
Return to MotoGP helped by ‘phone calls’ with Doohan
Prior to undergoing his fourth right shoulder surgery after the Italian MotoGP at Mugello, Marquez relied heavily on the advice of another Honda legend in Doohan.
Discussing the advice Doohan gave to him, Marquez said: "Yeah with Mick Doohan we had many phone calls, especially before the fourth surgery.
"I talked with him a lot because I had many doubts in my mind and one piece of advice he gave to me because he was in a similar situation with the leg - he said to me ‘maybe you cannot ride like before’ but you can ride in a different way and be competitive.
"So this is what I’m trying to do and step-by-step, already in Thailand I felt a step.
"It’s true that these next races will be important but my most important [period] will be next winter where I need to train well and try to fix all the things I want to be competitive in 2023."
Currently 13th in the MotoGP standings, Marquez still has an outside chance of claiming a top ten finish come the final round in Valencia despite missing eight races so far this season - Maverick Vinales is 38 points ahead of him in P10.
