Marc Marquez on all fours in front of his Repsol Honda – no real MotoGP fan wanted to see such pictures of the multiple world champion after his comeback. After this crash, he was even taken to the Jerez de la Frontera hospital for examination. The day after he was again in the gravel during the warm-up and the Catalan fell three times in a row on Sunday. Is this seriously supposed to be “old Marc Marquez”, as some prematurely claimed?

Review of Honda’s result at the Le Mans GP

Sometimes, but far too seldom, what the drivers or team people say is interesting from time to time. For Alberto Puig, the strong performance of Alex Marquez, Takaaki Nakagami and Pol Espargaró was obviously little consolation after the race at Le Mans. The man who said this won a single race in the premier class in his entire career and was third on the podium four times. Twice in his active time he was in the top ten of the world championship with the ranks 5 and 9. Understandably bothered him that Marc Marquez fell while in the lead. The disappointment was written on the Spaniard’s face when he answered the questions put to him in front of the microphone with the usual stony expression. There was not a single word of self-criticism that he should perhaps have advised Marc Marquez to return later. To have to gloss over a 7th place in the 6-time world champion in Portimão and P9 in Jerez can hardly have given Puig any pleasure.

From the king of “saves” to the rupture pilot on duty – the first races after his comeback, the six-time world champion had certainly imagined differently than with a seventh and then ninth place and, of all things, leading the first time since his comeback with a crash.

To the strange world-view of the HRC Honda team boss
One may well ask where would HRC Honda be today if they had signed Johann Zarco in autumn 2019? The fast Frenchman was on the market and would certainly have signed with Repsol Honda. Instead, Puig and his people chose Alex Marquez. Not everyone understood this. Especially because it took Marc’s younger brother a long time in his Moto2 career before he finally asserted himself there. After the test drives in winter, even Alberto and the like understood that the Catalan was a wrong choice for the works team. Even before the first race was driven, the contract with Cal Crutchlow was cancelled and the move from Alex to LRC Honda was ordered for the 2021 season. Instead, they signed Pol Espargaró, who is known to be quite susceptible to falls, as a replacement.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in front of Marc Marquez and in the back right his Repsol Honda works team colleague Pol Espargaró – in the end “Taka-San” was second-best Honda driver behind Alex Marquez. In the interim World Championship classification, despite two clears at the season opener, he is far ahead of Marc, who started in the third race, the best of all Honda drivers. Instead of grumbling about his star’s mishap, Puig would be happier publicly about the performance of his best driver to date.

Despite different headlines & sayings – there is no Honda debacle

Why Honda’s performance at Le Mans was quite good can be seen from the fact that three of their drivers ended up in the top 8. Even in Losail, all the “Hondisti” had jumped for joy, whether such results. But now, when Marc Marquez led briefly, but a little later proved exactly that he is not or not yet “the old man” again, Puig looks like a spoiled schoolboy during his interview. He should be proud of Nakagami, which the Japanese already achieved with P10 despite severe injuries in Portimão, let alone 4th place in Jerez. Just 0.6 seconds behind the podium, that’s world-class, Alberto! At Le Mans, Takaaki was again one of the most important when it came to getting the coals out of the fire for Honda. The truth is obvious: there is no Honda debacle, just a “Marc Marquez Disaster”. Anyone who produces a total of 5 falls on two GP weekends without another driver or the technology being complicit, obviously does not deserve a podium.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) – when the Frenchman was available, Puig and his people refused to take it. Now the fast man from Cannes is currently third in his first season on top material, only 12 points behind his compatriot Quartararo. Next up are the races in Misano and Barcelona, where he could really annoy the Honda pack again.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© MotoGP).