Repsol Honda boss Alberto Puig says Marc Marquez is ‘very upset’ at his latest injury setback after developing a fresh case of diplopia in the wake of his violent high-speed accident during the Indonesia MotoGP at Mandalika.
The Spaniard suffered a vicious high-side during morning warm-up - his fourth accident in what would be a tumultuous weekend for the six-time MotoGP World Champion - forcing him out of the second race for the 2022 MotoGP World Championship season.
However, despite suffering no immediate physical injuries beyond a concussion, the re-emergence of diplopia - a condition that causes blurry vision - has ruled him out of this weekend’s Argentina MotoGP too.
It is the second such occurrence of the injury since November when an accident while MX training aggravated a condition he hadn’t suffered since it was first sustained, way back in 2011 when he competed in Moto2.
With no set timeline for when he regains full vision, for now it is difficult to say when Marquez will be able to return.
It is an eventuality Repsol Honda boss Puig is aware of but says both he and his rider are remaining optimistic about the prognosis going forward.
“The crash was bad but fortunately the impact and injury is less than he had in Jerez, so it’s quite optimistic but realistic to think his recovery period will be shorter than last time. ‘When’ is difficult to say, the condition is complicated but we want to think it will be faster than last time.
“This time we will not go through that process, because this thing with the eyes is very simple. You see or you don’t see, if you don’t see 100%, you cannot ride. The moment he is clear and can see, he will return to racing.
“He is very upset, we started the championship with hope, we had a good race in Qatar. After the test in Indonesia we thought we could have a good test there but then things went wrong and unfortunately this happened.
“But Marc is an optimistic guy and he recovers, he is already thinking to speed up his recovery. That crash was strong, the fact he crashes doesn’t mean he is going to always crash but that was really bad. I want to think positive and think he will be OK.”
Marquez will be replaced by Stefan Bradl in the full factory team for this weekend’s event at the Rio de Termas Hondo.
