Honda: Marquez 'compromise' means comeback on Saturday

Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig has confirmed that, although passed fit to return to action this weekend, injured MotoGP champion Marc Marquez will sit out Friday practice.

Just two days after surgery to plate a broken right arm, Marquez made a shock return to the Jerez paddock this morning and subsequently passed a medical to try and ride in this weekend's Andalucia MotoGP.

"Nobody expected to see him here," Puig said. "When the accident happened we were very worried and of course he had to go to Barcelona for surgery. But the surgery went, frankly speaking, spectacularly well. We know the doctor is good but it was a fantastic job.

"And after surgery, the rider started to feel very well. He started to contact us, saying 'I'm not so bad. I feel well. I'm not having so much pain. I can move the arm'. The possible nerve [damage] situation, as the doctor informed, was okay.

"Originally, clearly, the Honda position was to cancel this race and to try in Brno. But after what we saw of Marc's wish, after what the doctors said today, declaring him fit, we came to a let's say an 'understanding' position that he will try on Saturday and depending on how he's feeling then, he will try or not to race.

"But we asked him to check on Saturday first and really understand if he is really capable of doing the distance or not. In case it's too risky, Marc already understood that our idea will be to cancel the race.

"But from last Sunday to today, things have been going so fast and so quickly that frankly speaking we are very surprised."

Puig explained that MotoGP's first-ever pair of back-to-back events at the same circuit means there is no need to risk riding on Friday.

"If it was a new track it would be more difficult. But we have been here for five days so the setup of the bike we know, he knows exactly how to ride the bike on this track. So it's no meaning to try Friday and to give more stress to the injury," Puig said.

"So he will try Saturday and after that we will see. But it was very important for Honda and for the Repsol Honda team to also respect the rider's wish. So we get this compromise [to wait until Saturday] and then we will see the result on Saturday."

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow joined Marquez in undergoing surgery on Tuesday, the Englishman having a small screw fitted to aid a fracture to his left scaphoid.

Like Marquez, Crutchlow and Suzuki's Alex Rins (dislocated shoulder, pictured with Marquez today) have also been passed as fit to ride.

"They are at this time our most experienced and fastest riders. But unfortunately, both are injured," Puig said of Marquez and Crutchlow. "I want to make clear that Honda never pushes the riders to race. We always respect the rider's conditions and opinion. That's why we let them, in Marc's case, try.

"Of course both Marc and Cal's results are very important for us, and when a rider is 100% fit it's true that you can push him. When he's not 100% fit, which is the case, you have to go one step back and see what he can do."