Marc Marquez makes his much-anticipated return to restore the Repsol Honda Team and re-join Joan Mir, both looking for stable weekends during a milestone event. After breaking the first metacarpal on his right hand in Portugal, Marc Marquez will return to raci View this email in your browser   Preview Report Wednesday, May 10th 2023   Grand Prix de France MotoGP 2023   Round 5 Marc Marquez returns to full-strength Repsol Honda Team at historic 1000th GP in France Marc Marquez makes his much-anticipated return to restore the Repsol Honda Team and re-join Joan Mir, both looking for stable weekends during a milestone event. After breaking the first metacarpal on his right hand in Portugal, Marc Marquez will return to racing his Repsol Honda Team RC213V in France. Having consulted with three separate medical teams, all involved are satisfied with the healing of the bone and the #93 will be back on track in France. The primary focus of the weekend will be getting back into the flow of a Grand Prix weekend and picking up where Marquez and the Honda RC213V left off. Marquez has stood on the top step of the podium on three occasions in the premier class in Le Mans. With a busy post-race test completed, Joan Mir arrives in Le Mans eager to find consistency and improvement. Having shown flashes of his potential during testing and the early races, there's no doubt that Mir and the Honda RC213V have a lot more to give after a handful of trying rounds. Putting together a consistent weekend will be Mir's primary focus, making the most of all the track time available. As always at Le Mans, the weather has the potential to turn the tides of any weekend but the forecast cooler conditions should suit the #36 better than the scorching conditions in Jerez. Round five of the 2023 World Championship sees Grand Prix motorcycle racing cross a historic threshold, the French GP schedule to be the 1000th event. Starting in 1949, manufacturers and riders from across the world would begin to compete for the highest honour in two-wheeled racing. 1959 saw Honda take a first step into this world and take a maiden win two years later in 1961. Since then, the history of Honda and Grand Prix racing have been intertwined with Honda taking 817 victories across all Grand Prix classes to date. The full-strength Repsol Honda Team will be back out on track at 10:45 Local Time for Free Practice 1 on Friday, May 12. Marc Marquez  93 "I am really happy to be back with the Repsol Honda Team, about to ride my bike again. First of all I want to thank my medical team for their professionalism and advice over the past few weeks. Of course as a rider you always want to be back as soon as possible, but with an injury like this it was really important to allow it to heal. Now I am here and fully focused on riding, I have no worries about the injury since it's fully healed. Let's see what the French GP brings and most importantly, work to our maximum." Joan Mir  36 "Arriving in France, we come with an open mind. We had a busy Monday test where we were able to try some things, especially working on the base setting of the bike. I am hoping that we will be able to take profit of this during the weekend. The French GP always has the extra element of the weather, often it is cold or raining. At the moment it looks a bit colder, but these cooler conditions seem to suit us better this year, so we are aiming to make the most of the situation we have. No matter what, we keep working together." Rider Standings Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor 1 Bagnaia Francesco 1 ITA 87 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 2 Bezzecchi Marco 72 ITA 65 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 3 Binder Brad 33 RSA 62 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 4 Miller Jack 43 AUS 49 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 5 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 48 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 6 Marini Luca 10 ITA 48 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 7 Martin Jorge 89 SPA 48 Pramac Racing Ducati 8 Rins Alex 42 SPA 47 LCR Honda Honda 9 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 46 Pramac Racing Ducati 10 Marquez Alex 73 SPA 41 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 11 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 40 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 12 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 34 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 13 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA 29 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 14 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR 21 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 15 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA 17 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 16 Fernandez Augusto 37 SPA 17 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 17 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 14 LCR Honda Honda 18 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA 13 KTM Test Team KTM 19 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 7 Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 Pirro Michele 51 ITA 5 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 21 Mir Joan 36 SPA 5 Repsol Honda Team Honda 22 Folger Jonas 94 GER 4 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 23 Fernandez Raul 25 SPA 3 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 24 Bradl Stefan 6 GER 2 Repsol Honda Team Honda Location Information Built in 1965 around the existing 24-Hour track, the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit lies 5km south of the city of Le Mans and 200km south-west of Paris. The venue has hosted Grand Prix since the late sixties but a serious accident to Spanish rider Alberto Puig in… read more. Length 4.185 kilometres / 2.6 miles Width 13 metres Left corners 5 Right corners 9 Longest straight 0.674 kilometres / 0.419 miles Constructed 1966 Modified 2008 Resurfacing Resurfaced before 2017 round Circuit Records Pole Position 1m 30.450s (166.5km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) Race Lap 1m 31.778s (164.1km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) Race Time 41m 34.613s (163 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022) 2022 Race Winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati) Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France –  View in Google Maps www.lemans.org You are receiving this email because you have registered your interest with Honda Racing CorporationIf you no longer want to receive emails from Repsol Honda Team - MotoGP, please click here to unsubscribe .