Marquez given all-clear to make MotoGP return at Portimao

Marquez has been out of action since he broke his right arm in last year’s delayed season opener at Jerez in July.

A failed attempt to return for the following week's Andalucian GP compounded his injury, and resulted in a lengthier spell on the sidelines. 

The six-time champion has undergone three operations since then, the last of which coming in December when he had bone grafted onto his humerus from his hip.

However, the Spaniard failed to recover sufficiently for the start of the 2021 campaign, missing pre-season testing as well as the opening two rounds of the season in Qatar last month.

Honda test rider Stefan Bradl replaced Marquez at both events, managing a best finish of 11th in the first of the two Doha races.

In a statement released on Saturday morning, Honda said that doctors have given Marquez all-clear to contest the third round of the season at Portimao on April 16-18.

“In the review carried out on Marc Marquez by the Hospital Ruber Internacional medical team, four months after surgery, led by Doctors Samuel Antuña and Ignacio Roger de Oña, and made up of Doctors De Miguel, Ibarzabal and García Villanueva, for an infected pseudoarthrosis of the right humerus, a very satisfactory clinical condition was found, with evident progress in the bone consolidation process. In the current situation, Marquez can return to competition, assuming the reasonable risk implicit in his sporting activity,” the statement read.

Marquez’s recovery was delayed by an infection he picked up from his second surgery in August, which followed weeks after his aborted comeback attempt at Jerez.

Although yet to test a MotoGP bike since his injury, Marquez has ridden the Honda RC213V-S test bike at Barcelona and Algarve in order to prepare for his race return.

The Spaniard also has a new teammate in former KTM rider Pol Espargaro in 2021, following brother Alex Marquez’s move to the LCR satellite team alongside Takaaki Nakagami.

“I'M VERY HAPPY!,” Marquez wrote on Twitter. “Yesterday I visited the doctors and they gave me the green light to return to competition. They have been 9 difficult months, with moments of uncertainties and ups and downs, and now, I will be able to enjoy my passion again!

“See you next week in Portimao!!”

Honda has endured a difficult start to the new season, with the factory Repsol-backed outfit fifth in the standings after the opening two rounds. 

Espargaro finished eighth and 13th in the opening two races to add to the points scored by Marquez’s substitute Bradl, while neither of the LCR riders have opened their points accounts so far.