Marc Marquez: ‘Put on a great show’ at home but ‘keep calm’

The Repsol Honda star missed the 2020 and 2022 Barcelona rounds due to his arm injuries and crashed out of the 2021 race.

But from 2014 to 2019 Marquez was first or second in all but one race and, while insisting he will keep the subdued ’calm’ approach since the summer break, he also hopes to help ‘put on a great show’.

“The weekend in Barcelona is always a special one, seeing all of the stands full of people and as my home race I love to see all the fans there,” Marquez said.

“No matter what, the objective is to put on a great show for everyone there and give them an enjoyable and memorable weekend.

“From our side, there’s work to do and we need to keep the calm approach we have had in the past few weekends.

“In Austria we saw that this way of working let us get through the weekend and gather good data for the project. We go again and begin a busy end to the year.”

While Marquez finished twelfth in Austria, it was yet another DNF for team-mate Joan Mir, who arrives at his first Catalunya round as a Repsol Honda rider without a race finish since the Portimao season opener.

“I am looking forward to the weekend in Montmelo, my home GP,” said Mir, who like Marquez ran the new high-downforce Honda aero in Austria. “Of course I want to produce a good result in front of the local fans but we need to keep on working.

“In Austria we had an overall good weekend that unfortunately ended in not the best way. I am confident that we can have another weekend where we are fighting to be the top Honda.”

Mir qualified as the top Honda rider with 15th in Austria, finished 12th in the Sprint, then fell while two places behind Marquez in the Sunday race.