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Having registered its second winless season in three years in 2022, Honda was expected to be the marque with the most to test come the first pre-season outing of the year this week in February.
Indeed, Marquez had four bikes in his garage and three 2023-spec prototypes to try on Friday at Sepang and was 12th overall, just under a second off the pace, after 58 laps of running.
After November’s Valencia post-race test, Marquez admitted the bike he tried was not capable of winning in 2023.
And while he remains reticent to make any definitive calls about the new Honda, Marquez admits he is still far away from where he needs to be.
“The feeling right now is the concept is more or less the same as Valencia, because it’s more or less the same bike,” Marquez said after the opening da …