Marquez back for Americas MotoGP after latest vision problems

The Honda rider crashed heavily during warm-up for the Indonesian GP last month and was ruled unfit to race after suffering a concussion.

On the flight home from Indonesia, Marquez began to experience problems with his vision and was diagnosed with a new episode of diplopia – also known as double vision.

This forced Marquez out of last weekend’s Argentina GP, but Honda said at the time his recovery was progressing well.

Ahead of this week’s fourth round of the 2022 season, Honda has now confirmed Marquez has recovered enough to compete at the Circuit of the Americas.

"Of course I am very happy to be back, it’s a great feeling to return and especially to do it at one of my favourite tracks," Marquez said. "No matter the situation, I really enjoy riding in Texas and have incredible memories there.

"We have some work to do after missing two races and the whole Argentina weekend so I am not here to set one target at the moment.

"There’s many things to do and consider, but the important thing is that we are back on the bike this weekend.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Earlier on Tuesday, Marquez tested a Honda CBR600RR at the Circuito de Alcarras in Spain to check his vision had fully recovered before travelling to COTA.

Double vision problems struck Marquez at the end of the 2021 season, when a concussion suffered during a training incident damaged a previously-injured nerve in his eye.

He was forced to miss the last two races of 2021 and was sidelined for three months while he recovered.

But his condition improved enough for him to take part in pre-season testing in February and start the 2022 campaign in Qatar.

Before last year’s problems, Marquez’s career was thrown into doubt back in 2011 when he crashed and damaged a nerve in his eye which led to him suffering from diplopia for the first time.

During last weekend’s Argentina GP, the six-time world champion’s brother Alex Marquez admitted he’d never seen him as down as he was following his latest vision problems.

Marc Marquez won last year’s Americas GP at COTA, adding to the haul of three victories he scored in his comeback season having sat out all of the COVID-affected 2020 with a badly broken right arm.

Apart from the 2019 Americas GP, when he crashed out of a commanding lead, Marquez has gone unbeaten at COTA since it joined the calendar in his debut MotoGP season in 2013.

The only other circuit where Marquez has enjoyed more success during his grand prix career is the Sachsenring in Germany.