Repsol Honda Team ready for the new challenge: Grand Prix of India

New Delhi, 20 Sept. 2023: India becomes the latest nation to host a MotoGP World Championship round, the Repsol Honda Team pairing of Marc Marquez and Joan Mir excited to meet their Indian fans in person.

Round 13 of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season lands in India at the Buddh International Circuit, a new venue and a new host country for the sport. With millions of motorcycles and scooters used daily in the world’s second most populous country, it’s safe to say India is full of motorcycle racing fans. The 4.96 kilometers of the Buddh International Circuit look set to produce another thrilling round of racing, a mix of long straights, tight hairpins and technical sections offering up a variety of overtaking opportunities.

Marc Marquez has always been a quick study and will be aiming to get up to speed and understand the 13 corners of Buddh as soon as possible. The #93 arrives on the back of a progressive weekend in Italy which culminated in seventh place, continuing his steady progress across the year. With a new track to learn, the work of the weekend will need to be balanced between learning and continuing to work on making improvements to the Honda RC213V.

On the other side of the garage, Joan Mir is hoping that a new venue will bring new fortunes after a tricky end to the San Marino GP. Despite the end, Mir was able to make steps forward in improving his feeling with the Honda RC213V. More track and bike time will be the key to continuing this trend and the intense schedule at the end of the year will provide exactly this to the #36.

It’s set to be a history-making weekend in India no matter what. Teams, riders and fans won’t have to wait long for their next fix of MotoGP action as the paddock will fly directly to Japan for Honda’s home race: the Japanese GP. This starts an intense period of eight GPs in ten weeks as the championship charges into the end of the season

Marc Marquez said: “I am really excited to meet all of the fans in India. It’s always a nice moment when we bring MotoGP to a new country, new people and new fans to share our sport and our passion. We will need to work a lot to understand everything about the track and about our own situation with the bike. The objective is to put together another weekend like Misano, build over each day and have a good pair of races. Let’s get ready for India and to meet everyone!“

Joan Mir said: “Visiting a new place is always really exciting, you see a lot on social media how many fans there are from India so I think it’s really important and great to go see them. The track itself looks like it will be interesting with a lot of different elements. There are many things to understand when you go to a new circuit so it’s important to do every step well, from walking the track when we arrive to making the most of every session on track.”

Location Info: Buddh International Circuit, India