Márquez brought out his riding skills as the difficult weather conditions forced the red flag to be raised after the halfway point of the race.
The rain made an appearance from the start of the Motegi race scheduled for 24 laps, which forced the commissioners to raise the white flag so that the riders could enter the pit lane to change tires since they were riding slicks.
Already with rain tires, Marc Márquez showed his riding talent under this conditions, entering the fight with the leading group. Initially being cautious when it started to rain harder and going on the attack with the track completely wet.
In this way, the eight-time world champion intensified his pace, passing Bezzecchi on lap 11, achieving a third position, trying to close the gap on Bagnaia and Martin. But bad weather conditions, heavy rain and lack of light, forced the red flag for safety reasons, ending the race.
After a failed attempt to restart the race and with more than half of it having been completed, it was finished.
In this way, Marc Márquez returned to the podium, achieving third place, which he had not achieved since his second place in the 2021 Australian Grand Prix.
This podium, the 140th of his career and the 101st in the premier category, places Marc Márquez in fifth position overall in podiums obtained in all categories. Being the 455th podium for the Repsol Honda Team in the premier category.
Joan Mir also started at a high level at the start of the race, following in the footsteps of his teammate in the first laps, but his progress was cut short as the weather conditions worsened as vision problems appeared with his helmet, occupying 12th position when the red flag came out and regretted having lost the opportunity to finish in the top ten again.
STATEMENTS:
Marc Márquez, HRC rider: “It's great to return to the podium after so much time away, and to do it here in Motegi, at the Honda home, with so many fans and Honda people here, honestly, it's quite romantic... I stayed calm and when I saw that there was more water on the track I started to attack. I felt very good with my pace and I think we could have had an interesting end to the race.”
Joan Mir, HRC rider: “Unfortunately I had some visibility problems with my helmet, it's something I've never had in the past and today was the day. It's a big shame, I couldn't see and I was missing reference points on the track. When I was fighting Miller I could see a little bit, but then the rain got worse and it was enough to stop me.”
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