Marc Marquez: No shoulder limitations this weekend
Marc Marquez made quite a statement on the eve of the German MotoGP by declaring that he doesn't expect to face any serious physical limitations with his healing arm and shoulder this weekend.
That's because the Sachsenring - where Marquez has been unbeaten since 2009 - contains only three of the right-hand corners where he currently struggles most.
The other nine turns are all left-handers, where Marquez not only feels more physically comfortable but has always preferred due to his dirt-track training.
"Honestly speaking maybe this weekend will be the weekend that I feel better with the shoulder and with the arm, I think and I hope there will be no limitation in this circuit, because we have left corners and only 3 right corners, which is where I have the limitation and where I feel worse," Marquez said.
"So we can say that this will be the first weekend without physical limitations.
"Obviously, you cannot pretend to arrive here and change completely the situation. But about the physical side, I am confident we will be much better than other circuits, and then let's see, let's see where we can arrive with less physical limitations."
Marquez arrives in Sachsenring having crashed out of the last three races, but then receiving a boost by managing 87 laps at the Barcelona test, his first day of MotoGP riding outside of a race weekend since July 2020.
"The Barcelona test was so important. It was important for Honda, but it was important for me," Marquez said. "It was the first time that I was able to ride a bike without cameras, without pressure, without depending on the lap times.
"I was just riding, I was trying many things on the bike. It's true that we tried many things for Honda for the information, but also I tried many things on my side, and it was good.
"It's true that the next two days I was complete destroyed, but even then I was able to make another step, that I was able on Friday to ride with a flat track bike in a good mode, so step by step my body feels more ready. But the most important thing was that the test in Montmelo, I was happy after Monday."
After his latest race exit, in Barcelona, Marquez had explained that the Honda lack rear grip on both corner entry and exit, making hard to stop the bike under braking and causing them to lose ground in acceleration.
It sounded very similar to the description given by Cal Crutchlow last season, when the Englishman gave a detailed description of the problems he believed could be traced back to a change in engine design for 2020.
If the root cause of Honda's ongoing difficulties is indeed the increase in (crankshaft) inertia then, due to the technical freeze, they are unable to do anything about it until 2022.
"Always I try to evaluate Honda situation, it's not the best one," said Marquez. "Even last year they struggled a lot, looks like this year we are struggling even more.
"But then I always try to analyse the situation inside my box. And inside my box, it's true that I am not helping the bike, and at the moment, the bike is not helping me. So both sides are not on a good level, this creates that the results are difficult to achieve.
"But anyway, I will try to improve my side during the season, I know that Honda HRC, and all my team together we are working to improve the performance of the bike, and then together, try to increase our level and try to arrive at the end of the season with a good package and start the 2022 preseason with something that we feel is competitive."
Honda is without a podium this season and hasn't won a race since Marquez signed off his eighth world championship with victory in the 2019 Valencia finale.
