Marquez 'will always be Honda'

Marc Marquez says it’s a case of never say never when it comes to the question of whether or not he will ever ride for a different manufacturer in MotoGP in the future.

Marquez will have a new team-mate next season when Jorge Lorenzo joins the Repsol Honda team from Ducati, with Dani Pedrosa leaving at the end of this season.

The reigning champion has signed a new two-year deal with Honda and while Marquez has refused to rule out the potential of switching to a different manufacturer in the future, for now he feels he will always be with Honda.

“You never know, but if you ask now I say I will stay always with Honda because it is what I feel and I signed for two more years because I feel this,” he said.

“But you never know because when you change to another manufacturer it is because you need some other motivation or something different. But at the moment I don’t need this, I’m happy where I am and I feel really good with the Honda company and I feel that they respect me a lot.

“It is something more than the performance or the salary or something, if you feel big respect inside a big manufacturer, this is the key.”

Marquez continues to lead the championship by 23 points from Valentino Rossi despite finishing 16th at Mugello after sliding off early in the race.

He is now looking ahead to this weekend’s race at Catalunya in the wake of a positive test at the circuit.

“Mugello was a difficult weekend for us but we know the problem a little bit so we already forget Mugello because in the morning time we were very fast, but in the afternoon with the other front tyre we were struggling a lot,” Marquez said.

“I was not able to manage in the right way in Sunday’s race but anyway, here, on the test two weeks ago I felt really good, confident. It is not one of the best circuits for me but I have been on the podium many times and I have won a few races here in Moto2, 125 and one time MotoGP, so I’m looking forward to a home GP.”