Marquez to miss Phillip Island test

Marc Marquez will sit out next week’s planned Phillip Island tyre test, despite initially aiming for a return just twelve days after breaking his fibula in a training accident. However, a medical check today has delayed any return until at least the first round in Qatar on March 20th.

Honda team boss Livio Suppo has said that the team will still freight his machines to Australia, having planned on the possibility of his return at the planned tyre test, but emphasised that Honda want to give Marquez as much time as is needed to recover from his injuries.

“We have to ship the bike one way or another, so we still have three full days to understand. On the one hand it would be good for him to be on the bike again before the start of the season, but on the other hand I’m already totally confident in him because we saw at the first Sepang test that he was already immediately very fast.”

“He was already able to choose the new parts of the bike, so we’re not in the middle of any big changes,” added Suppo. “The priority is always the rider’s body (health) and especially at the moment as we don’t have any drama on the technical side.”

Marquez added: “I’m obviously disappointed that I’m not in Sepang at the moment and to miss Phillip Island is also unfortunate, but we believe it is the best decision. After my meeting today with Dr. Mir, although he was happy with the general situation of my leg after only seven days since the accident, he advised against taking unnecessary risk. So I will take time to rest and get myself as fit as possible to return to Qatar for the first race in the best shape possible”

After the tyre fiasco at the Australian round last year that saw riders handed a mandatory pit stop, Bridgestone have organised a tyre test at the Victoria circuit directly after this week’s Sepang 2 official test.