Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró travel to Portugal this week to contest the fifth round of the MotoGP World Championship.
After Marc Márquez’ return to action in Austin a fortnight ago, the Repsol Honda Team rider moves on to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve to compete in what will be his third race of the season.
Márquez has only contested one race at the track, in which he finished seventh, as in 2021 he missed both the Portuguese and Algarve Grands Prix due to injury.
Pol Espargaró comes to Portugal as the top Honda rider in the overall standings -in 11th- and with the aim of continuing to score points to move higher up the table. The Repsol Honda Team rider has already taken a podium this year in Qatar and hopes to keep progressing in his adaptation to the Honda RC213V.
Espargaró has only contested three Grands Prix at Portimao -all in the premier class- achieving fourth place in 2020 and sixth in 2021.
MARC MÁRQUEZ:
“I am looking forward to riding in Portugal, it’s a demanding circuit that’s very physical but a lot of fun to ride. In America we showed our speed and what we are capable of, even if everything did not go perfectly. I want to again be fighting at the front and getting good points after not the best start to the year. We have to keep working on ourselves and the bike to be able to achieve our maximum, but I know myself and Honda are working hard.”
POL ESPARGARÓ:
“With the come back to Europe I’m hoping to reset a bit and find what we had at the start of the year. After Qatar it seems things have been against us a little bit, but there are still plenty of races left and a lot of work to be done. Portimao is a circuit I have always enjoyed so with the new Honda I have some good hopes for the weekend.”
