FILE PHOTO: Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez reacts during a news conference prior to the MotoGP race at Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit on Lombok Island, Indonesia, March 17, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
March 29, 2022
(Reuters) – Six times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez will miss this weekend’s Argentine Grand Prix as he continues to recover from double vision suffered after a crash in Indonesia, Honda said on Tuesday.
Marquez did not race at the Mandalika circuit, the second round of the season, a week ago after a highside crash in the warm-up session.
“The Repsol Honda Team rider will not take part in the next round … as he continues his recovery,” Honda said in a statement ahead of the grand prix at Termas de Rio Hondo.
Marquez won the last time MotoGP visited the circuit in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the race in 2020 and 2021.
The Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, follows on from Argentina on April 10 and Honda did not say whether Marquez might return there, or who would replace him this weekend.
The 29-year-old experienced double vision while travelling back to Spain from Indonesia. He suffered a similar episode at the end of last season after a concussion in a training crash.
Honda said Marquez visited his ophthalmologist in Barcelona on Monday for a second medical check-up with a “notable improvement” in his condition.
The rider won titles between 2013 to 2019 but has struggled with fitness in recent years. He sat out the 2020 season after breaking his arm and also missed four races in 2021.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
