The one non-MotoGP race Marc Marquez wants to try...
The eight-time world championship winner, six of which have come in MotoGP for Repsol Honda, is a known admirer of the Dakar Rally while his good friend and Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz was recently at the four-wheel event to support his father, Carlos Sainz Sr.
Sainz Jr, who has been continuing his off-season training with Marquez after returning home from the event, did so prior to his father suffering a nasty crash on stage nine.
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After complaints of pain in his torso, a medical helicopter was deployed in order to take Sainz Sr to a local hospital, but in a surprising turn of events the 60-year-old demanded that the helicopter turn around in order for him to continue the race.
Marquez has been following the 2023 Dakar Rally and spoke about the possibility of competing in the race one day: "Of course I'm following the Dakar," Marquez told Teledeporte.es. "I like everything about the engine.
"On Carlos Sainz Sr: He’s sick from the engine, from adrenaline. Not only the Dakar, of all motorsports. Precise details, it's his life.
"Why not see him next year at 61 years old. If you see yourself with strength... the mind is everything. He had speed, and I think he was the fastest on the track.
"What is clear is that for me, not on a motorcycle, it would hurt me. Obviously you sign up for a bombing. The Dakar gives a lot of respect, there is prior preparation. And we are competitive, I don't like to lose. Maybe in the future I would go to compete, but not just to finish the race."
Marquez also claimed that having a co-pilot talking to him would be a problem: "It is what would cost me the most, to have someone next to me talking,” added the MotoGP star, who discussed such a scenario with Sainz Sr.
"He was preparing for the race as if it were his first Dakar. And I asked him about that, he told me that it is his hand and his right foot, that the gas is the co-pilot. It would be hard for me to drive and listen to someone at the same time."
