A subdued end to a tricky weekend for the Repsol Honda Team as Marc Marquez returned to the points and Joan Mir suffered an unfortunate early crash after a promising start at Malaysian GP.
Threats of rain throughout the weekend would ultimately remain at simply that, the circuit staying dry during the entire weekend of premier class running. The brief ten-minute warm-up session offered the Repsol Honda Team a final chance to assess their setup before diving into the race later in the afternoon.
From 20th, Marquez made another aggressive start to the race and found himself fighting for points from the first lap. As the processional Malaysian Grand Prix unfolded, Marquez briefly battled with his teammate before settling into a largely lonesome race. Avoiding risks, the #93 was able to bring his Honda RC213V home in 13th place and leave Malaysia ready for the final two races of the year.
Mir had made a similar start to the 20-lap race as his Repsol Honda Team teammate and the pair were running together on track in the early stages. A moment at Turn 4 would see the #36 fall from the race, avoiding injury, but unable to continue. Disappointment for the 2020 MotoGP World Champion, his pace from the early laps certainly strong enough to score points. As always, Mir remains focused on the positives – pleased to have been able to match his teammate’s speed.
Now the Repsol Honda Team will pack the garage and move onto the next challenge: Qatar – the penultimate GP of the year.
“It has been a difficult Sunday to end a complicated weekend, really it all came from Qualifying on Saturday. From 20th is always difficult and my feeling with the bike was similar to what it was in the Sprint race,” said Marquez (13th).
“Yesterday, I pushed and crashed, today I managed everything and was able to at least get some points. We have another tough race coming up in Qatar where we can try and improve our situation and results. Let’s keep on going and get ready for the next one.”
Mir (DNF) said, “The summary of our weekend is that I am still working, I am still pushing, and I am not giving up – that’s why I crashed. Today I was able to be close to Marc and fight with him for a bit but the pressure with the front tyre was very high. We gain under braking but in the hot conditions like Malaysia you have to manage everything. It’s nice to fight with Marc, in another year that would have been fighting for the podium! We try again in one week.”
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