Marc Marquez will not return to action until at least the second Austrian event, with Honda confirming Stefan Bradl will continue to deputise at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.
Bradl was drafted in alongside Alex Marquez for the Czech Grand Prix after Marc was ruled unfit to race following surgery last week to fix the titanium plate installed in his right arm in the aftermath of his nasty crash during the season-opening Spanish GP at Jerez.
The world champion damaged the plate after apparently trying to open a window at home, forcing him to undergo corrective surgery and with it lose any chance of returning to action at Brno.
Written in Honda’s Brno track report, the organisation confirmed that Bradl would compete with them in the first Austrian event, with Marquez feasibly still targeting a return for the second Red Bull Ring contest that brings to a close the first MotoGP triple header of the shortened 2020 campaign.
“We will have Stefan with us again this week in Austria,” read Honda’s track report.
“The Red Bull Ring in Austria is a different track. We expect that Alex continues his growth, developing as a rider and making improvements.
“He needs to understand the bike better and above all the tires. He is still having some problems with understanding the new tires which makes things difficult later.
“With Stefan we will see in the following days if we are testing some new pieces or what type of weekend we will prepare from a technical point of view.”
Honda suffered significantly without Marc at Brno, both its factory bikes propping up the field in qualifying, in 20th and 21st respectively – Bradl leading Alex – while things failed to get much better in the race, Marquez scoring a solitary point for 15th while Bradl came home as the last man classified in 18th.
