Marquez against two races per weekend, return to normality key

Looking to keep his followers entertained during the ongoing widespread shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, Marc Marquez hosted a live Q&A covering a wide variety of topics including how he sees the 2020 MotoGP season shaping up.

Currently, all races until at least mid-May have been postponed amid coronavirus measures, with Jerez (May 1-3) the latest to be postponed without a rescheduled date.

While the French MotoGP at Le Mans (May 13-15) remains the provisional 2020 opener, it also looks set to be pushed back in the schedule along with the Italian round at Mugello (May 29-31), with an optimistic plan putting the Catalan round at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the new opener on June 5-7.

With effectively the opening third of the initial 2020 MotoGP race calendar called off, series organisers are assessing options to complete a full season with the minimum of 13 rounds targeted to fulfil a ‘complete’ FIM world championship season.

Amongst the range of ideas suggested to reorganise the season, double-header race weekends have been offered, which would follow a similar style to World Superbike format which currently host two full races (one on Saturday and one on Sunday plus the Sunday morning sprint race).

During his Instagram Q&A, Marquez says he wouldn’t be in favour of double-header weekends and would prefer a normal schedule before trying alternatives.

“I don't think there will be two races in the same weekend, like in Superbikes. The first thing is to return to normality,” Marquez said.

“Well, let’s wait. That is why we are training at home. Let’s see if it passes quickly, which can happen by collaborating with everyone, and see if normality returns.”

Marquez, along with his younger brother and new Repsol Honda team-mate Alex, is set to take part in the first Virtual MotoGP today (starting at 14:00 BST) and while he will naturally try to be as competitive as possible he doesn’t expect to be coming out on top.

“I have been training to play the best possible role in tomorrow’s virtual race. I know Pecco [Bagnaia] goes fast there. My mother tells me that DAZN are showing it and the MotoGP YouTube channel,” Marquez said.

“I know that if my brother plays I will not win the race. I am very bad. When this live is over I am not going to take a nap but to train.

“It is in Mugello, a circuit that costs me. I will not share screen with my brother. Only that was missing. There is another Play and another TV, to take the race in separate rooms.”