James Warren
FACTORY Honda rider and multiple world champion Marc Marquez has signed a new contract with the Repsol HRC Team.
The Spanish rider will now stay on at Honda until 2024.
The news emerged at a press conference last week ahead of the first round of the 2020 MotoGP Championship that the six time world champion extended his current contract for four more years.
“I am very proud to announce my renewal with Honda Racing Corporation for the next four years,” said Marquez.
“Honda gave me the opportunity to arrive in the MotoGP class with a factory bike in 2013. Since the first year we have achieved success together and I am very happy to continue being part of the Honda family.
“HRC gives me the confidence to extend this partnership to obtain our common goal and continue our story of success.”
The announcement will surely allow Marquez to concentrate on getting back to full fitness after a shoulder operation during the off-season meant that in the recent Sepang tests he was only at 70% fitness.
In this weeks Qatar test the 27-year-old complained that his shoulder was feeling worse than back in January as he struggled to tame the 2020 RC213V.
2021 marks the end of the majority of factory contracts across the grid, meaning that negotiations are in full swing to fill the top seats, but Honda have seemingly followed in the footsteps of rivals Yamaha in securing their riders early on in the process.
Last month, the Yamaha squad announced that current rider Maverick Vinales would be joined by satellite sensation Fabio Quartararo and newly ‘retired’ Spanish legend Jorge Lorenzo as test rider, forming a dream team to try to dislodge the orange Honda from the top.
