Malaysia,13th November 2023: A complicated Q1 locked both Repsol Honda Team riders into a race of recovery, from 16th and 20th respectively Joan Mir and Marc Marquez made early progress but had their march forward halted by crashes.

Saturday in Sepang was another day of complications for the Repsol Honda Team, both Marc Marquez and Joan Mir forging ahead despite the hardships. Having to contest Q1, it was a busy start to the day for the pair of Honda RC213V riders who worked on their final setup changes in the morning. Mir was able to put in a respectable time, his 1’58.440 would have been good enough to contest the front row here in 2022. Marquez suffered a fall on his final flying lap and took 20th position on the grid.

Immediately shooting forward, the #93 made up seven places on the first lap of the Sprint. Hungry for more, he attempted to keep his pace up but a small crash at Turn 14 ended his charge. With the spirit of a champion, Marquez remounted and finished the 10-lap Sprint to gather as much information as possible for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Mir yet again made positive progress when the Sprint began and advanced several positions in the opening corners. Settling into his rhythm, he was able to make steady progress forward in the following laps. Coming off at Turn 15 just a lap after his teammate, the #36 jumped to his feet, picked up his Repsol Honda Team RC213V and rejoined to finish the Sprint.

The Repsol Honda Team will be aiming for better fortunes when the lights go out on the 20-lap Grand Prix at 15:00 Local Time on Sunday, November 12.

Marc Marquez (21st)

“This is a difficult weekend, our pace has not been too bad but we made a big mistake during Qualifying practice and starting down in 20th is a big battle. In the Sprint race I started really well in the first two laps and made up a lot of positions, but when you push like this you overheat the tyres and I lost the front. We got back up and finished the race, getting the information for the team which is necessary for tomorrow. Finishing 21st or 15th in the Sprint doesn’t really change much. We go again tomorrow.”

Joan Mir (23rd)

“An intense day with the conditions and what we had to do. I was able to keep improving my feeling throughout the day and our times weren’t too bad as we went into Q1. If we did this time last year we would have been on the front row I think! But we still need to find more speed in Qualifying. Again, starting where we did made the race a bit complicated and falling at the last corner was not ideal. We got back on and finished the race to get as much information as possible for Sunday.”

Malaysian GP – Sprint Race

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	MARQUEZ ALEX	73	SPA	12	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	19’58.713
2	MARTIN JORGE	89	SPA	9	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.589
3	BAGNAIA FRANCESCO	1	ITA	7	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	3.034
4	BASTIANINI ENEA	23	ITA	6	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	3.242
5	BINDER BRAD	33	RSA	5	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	3.310
6	MILLER JACK	43	AUS	4	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	4.318
7	BEZZECCHI MARCO	72	ITA	3	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	5.307
8	ZARCO JOHANN	5	FRA	2	Pramac Racing	Ducati	5.501
9	MARINI LUCA	10	ITA	1	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	6.420
10	VINALES MAVERICK	12	SPA	0	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	7.241
11	MORBIDELLI FRANCO	21	ITA	0	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	8.775
12	ESPARGARO ALEIX	41	SPA	0	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	9.995
13	DI GIANNANTONIO FABIO	49	ITA	0	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	10.067
14	FERNANDEZ AUGUSTO	37	SPA	0	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM	10.643
15	ESPARGARO POL	44	SPA	0	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM	11.005
16	QUARTARARO FABIO	20	FRA	0	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	11.911
17	FERNANDEZ RAUL	25	SPA	0	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	13.591
18	OLIVEIRA MIGUEL	88	POR	0	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	15.058
19	NAKAGAMI TAKAAKI	30	JPN	0	LCR Honda	Honda	16.015
20	LECUONA IKER	27	SPA	0	LCR Honda	Honda	23.484
21	MARQUEZ MARC	93	SPA	0	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	24.930
22	BAUTISTA ALVARO	19	SPA	0	Ducati Test Team	Ducati	36.501
23	MIR JOAN	36	SPA	0	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	40.594

Rider standings

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team	Constructor
1	BAGNAIA FRANCESCO	1	ITA	396	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
2	MARTIN JORGE	89	SPA	385	Pramac Racing	Ducati
3	BEZZECCHI MARCO	72	ITA	313	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati
4	BINDER BRAD	33

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