Marc Marquez will NOT race in Qatar next week

By sep, 23 March 2021

It's been a roller coaster ride for Repsol Honda's MotoGP champion, Marc Marquez, in the last year but his road to recovery is actually heading in the right direction. Despite being able to ride again since July last year (and doing so like he never left the bike on the Honda RC213V-S), it seems that fans won't see him racing in Qatar next week. In fact, it's confirmed that he won't take part in the first two opening rounds at the Losail International Circuit. Bummer.

The announcement was made by Marc Marquez himself on his official Twitter page yesterday. His recovery has been positive as of late, but the last check-up with his medical team indicated that he's still not fit enough to duke it out against the best motorcycle riders in the world (at least not next week or the week after that). We're assuming that he'll try to get back on his beloved Honda RC213V in the middle of April when the MotoGP paddock heads to Portugal, but there's still no confirmation for that round as well.

The MotoGP grid this season faces its biggest shake-up yet with many riders moving here and there plus a few high-profile rookies going up from Moto2. There are many favourites, but most eyes are on Team Suzuki Ecstar's Joan Mir as he goes in for his first championship title defense against the likes of Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo, Ducati's Jack Miller, Honda's Pol Espargaro, plus many more.

It's also safe to say that Marquez won't be the world champion this year, but then again, you never bet against an alien who continues to surprise everyone everytime he rides. Don't count out the satellite teams too like the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad as they prepare to go into the 2021 season guns blazing together with their two very talented Italian riders, Franco Morbidelli and the nine-time world champion, Valentino Rossi.

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