The Honda rider made his long-awaited return to action on Friday at Le Mans following over a month on the sidelines due to injury.
Marquez ended Friday eighth overall and secured a place directly into the Q2 qualifying session on Saturday morning.
The eight-time world champion also tested Honda’s new Kalex-designed chassis for the first time, which he used to set his best lap of the day, as the Japanese manufacturer looks to improve on its difficult start to 2023.
Though he feels it is a definite improvement, he admits it’s not the magic solution Honda needs to cure all of its woes and return it to the front of the grid permanently.
“It’s another step in some areas in this circuit, but we need more steps,” Marquez cautioned when asked by Autosport if he felt the new chassis was the solution to Honda’s problems.
“It’s not the only step we need. We need more steps. Still, we are losing too much. We are too much [relying] on the brakes, because we lose on acceleration on the straights.
“So, we are on the brakes a lot, for that reason we are pushing the front a lot, for that reason all the Hondas are crashing too many times.
“But this is the way to keep going, and I’m a rider who will keep pushing to try to understand the way for the future.”
Source: Autosport