Valencia, 27th November 2023: An emotional Marc Marquez left nothing on track as he returned to the MotoGP Sprint podium for the third time in 2023, a gift to the Repsol Honda Team.

Having shown strong and consistent pace throughout the weekend, Marc Marquez headed into Q2 ready and eager to perform. A final weekend with the Repsol Honda Team spurred the #93 on to take extra risks in order to see out the 11-year relationship in the best way possible. Unfortunately, a mistake into Turn 2 on his final flying lap would end Marquez’s charge towards the front row and see him line up in ninth. With overtaking in Valencia notoriously difficult, the eight-time World Champion was left frustrated.

Launching perfectly as the lights went out, Marquez immediately made-up ground and lined up a big move into Turn 2. He’d keep the pace of leaders as he, Binder and Martin reeled in and passed early leader Maverick Viñales. With a Sprint podium in his sights, Marquez was giving no ground and set the fastest lap of the race on lap four – a 1’29.809. Marquez’s challenge would last until the final laps when catching Martin and Binder finally became impossible, crossing the line in a well-earned third place.

Arriving to the Sprint podium with thousands of fans and the members of his Repsol Honda Team below, Marquez – who has enjoyed 11 seasons with HRC – fought back the emotions to celebrate his third Sprint podium of 2023.

Joan Mir’s weekend was forced into an early finish, the #36 deemed unfit after his fall on Friday. His focus will now be on recovering and preparing for the post-season test on Tuesday.

Sunday is set to be an emotional day for the entire Repsol Honda Team as Marc Marquez prepares to line up on the Honda RC213V for the final time and celebrate a relationship which has brought six MotoGP World Championships and five Triple Crowns. Every lap of the 27-lap race will have all involved giving their maximum to end the season, and an incredible era of MotoGP, in the best way possible.

Marc Marquez (Third)

“You can give all the presents, all the helmets, all the boots you want – but the best present is what you give on the track. That’s what today was about, giving something to the Repsol Honda Team, to HRC, to my people who have been with me across this journey. I increased the risk I was taking a step and even in the race I almost crashed many times, but today I was able to do a good start, a good first lap and make a good race. It’s important to enjoy this special moment with everyone, it was honestly hard to fight the emotions on the podium. All of my team, HRC and the fans there – it was really nice to give everyone this moment. The objective is to continue like this tomorrow, but we need to see the conditions, how we start, many things.”

Valencia GP – Sprint Race

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	MARTIN JORGE	89	SPA	12	Pramac Racing	Ducati	19’38.827
2	BINDER BRAD	33	RSA	9	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.19
3	MARQUEZ MARC	93	SPA	7	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	2.122
4	VINALES MAVERICK	12	SPA	6	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	3.106
5	BAGNAIA FRANCESCO	1	ITA	5	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	4.253
6	DI GIANNANTONIO FABIO	49	ITA	4	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	4.4
7	BEZZECCHI MARCO	72	ITA	3	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	4.502
8	MARQUEZ ALEX	73	SPA	2	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	5.578
9	ZARCO JOHANN	5	FRA	1	Pramac Racing	Ducati	5.91
10	FERNANDEZ AUGUSTO	37	SPA	0	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM	6.095
11	FERNANDEZ RAUL	25	SPA	0	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	7.674
12	MILLER JACK	43	AUS	0	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	8.098
13	ESPARGARO ALEIX	41	SPA	0	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	9.513
14	ESPARGARO POL	44	SPA	0	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM	12.453
15	BASTIANINI ENEA	23	ITA	0	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	12.599
16	NAKAGAMI TAKAAKI	30	JPN	0	LCR Honda	Honda	13.787
17	MARINI LUCA	10	ITA	0	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	13.887
18	MORBIDELLI FRANCO	21	ITA	0	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	14.943
19	RINS ALEX	42	SPA	0	LCR Honda	Honda	20.378
20	SAVADORI LORENZO	32	ITA	0	Aprilia Racing Test Team	Aprilia	25.017
21	QUARTARARO FABIO	20	FRA	DNF	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	DNF

Rider standings

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team	Constructor
1	BAGNAIA FRANCESCO	1	ITA	442	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
2	MARTIN JORGE	89	SPA	428	Pramac Racing	Ducati
3	BEZZECCHI MARCO	72	ITA	329	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati
4	BINDER BRAD	33	RSA	277	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
5	ZARCO JOHANN	5	FRA	205	Pramac Racing	Ducati
6	ESPARGARO ALEIX	41	SPA	198	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia
7	VINALES MAVERICK	12	SPA	198	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia
8	MARINI LUCA	10	ITA	194

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