Marc Marquez's comeback continues with Barcelona track day

End of day Update:

The chances of Marc Marquez being on the grid for the season-opening Qatar MotoGP are increasing by the day.

Since being cleared by doctors to intensify his training, due to increasing bone consolidation in his fractured (and later infected) right arm, the eight-time world champion appeared on track with a minibike a few days later at the Circuito de Alcarrás.

"After eight months and after the Doctors approval in the last check-up, I finally felt this feeling again although it was with a mini moto!" Marquez wrote on social media.

But today (Tuesday) is an even more significant milestone in his recovery with the Repsol Honda star taking to the Barcelona track on an RC213V-S, the production version of his MotoGP bike and the nearest he can get (under the testing rules) to trying out a full grand prix machine:

Today's test underlines that Marquez - who has already missed the Qatar MotoGP pre-season tests - had no significant issues during the minibike outing and, assuming all goes well on the RC213V-S, few would be surprised to then see him pull out of pit lane for opening practice in Losail on March 26.

Repsol Honda confirmed to Crash.net that Marquez travelled to Qatar over the weekend to join his rivals in getting the Covid vaccination offered by the Qatari government to the MotoGP paddock.