Marc Marquez: Kalex “a small help, but not the solution”

Marc Marquez went down fighting on his return to MotoGP action at French MotoGP. The Kalex frame had been a “a small help” but “not the solution”.

Peter McLaren

15 May 2023

Marc Marquez, MotoGP race, French MotoGP, 14 May

Making his debut on the Kalex chassis, the Repsol Honda star qualified second, finished a close fifth in the Saturday Sprint and then took the early lead in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Although Marco Bezzecchi moved ahead at the midway stage, Marquez clung to second ahead of Sprint winner Jorge Martin until falling, as he was being overtaking by the Ducati rider, on the penultimate lap.

Missing out on the rostrum was undoubtedly frustrating, but the big question in terms of Marquez’s season was how significant the Kalex chassis had been.

Kalex has dominated the Moto2 championship ever since Marquez’s title victory with Suter in 2012.

The fact the #93 switched both his RCVs to the German frame from Saturday morning was a clear vote of confidence, but Marquez made clear he doesn’t think the Kalex alone will be “the solution”.

Although Marquez fought at the front, team-mate Joan Mir, also on the Kalex frame, was left at the back of the field in both races. Marquez also highlighted the continued high crash rate of the RCV riders.

“Of course the chassis is a small difference, and it's a small help. But it's not the solution,” Marquez said. “Mir was using the chassis, and Mir is a world champion, and you saw he was struggling, he was in the back, and he crashed again.

“So we need to change something for the future, to be more competitive, to be more safe, because every year, the Honda riders are in the top ranking of crashes. It's not only me. Mir crashed 4 or 5 times in Jerez, now here again 3 times. So we need to keep working with the team to improve.

“But you know me, and you know my style... If somebody overtakes me, I will come back. I'm a fighter. But then you are on the limit.

“I crashed in Turn 7, but the crash started in Turn 6. Because I had a massive shake in Turn 6, because the bike was shaking a lot there in all accelerations.

“We don't need to analyse, we need to improve that, because it's the main problem we have always.”

On why he had personally been competitive at Le Mans, his first race since injury in the Portimao season-opener, Marquez explained:

“Here is a bit better because in the two main accelerations, it's one of my strong points of the riding style. I was doing a massive pick up, and I control really well the gas, and for that reason we were not losing a lot.

“But in Sector 2 for example, where you are depending a lot on the grip of your bike, was losing a lot.

“Of course I'm asking for new items, and asking to improve the weak points, but it's not in my hands. What I will do is to work hard these next 3 weeks to be in good [physical] shape for Mugello.”