The eight-time world champion had not seen the chequered flag on a Sunday in MotoGP prior to Austria since the 2022 Malaysian GP, marking a near-year stint of 301 days without a grand prix finish.
At all of the grands prix Marquez started in 2023 prior to Austria he had crashed out, with all of his points up to last weekend coming in the sprint contests.
But a gamble on the soft rear tyre in the hot Austrian GP on Sunday allowed Marquez to take the chequered flag in 12th on his troubled Honda, marking his first main race finish 10 rounds into the campaign.
“It looks like a joke, but it’s true,” Marquez said when asked about his first Sunday MotoGP finish of the year.
“It’s the first time I finished a race on Sunday [this year] and first points of the season on a Sunday.
“Basically, it’s easy to understand. You just approach the race in another mentality, as I did at Silverstone.
“Ok, [not finishing at] Silverstone was more of a race incident, not riding over the limit.
Source: Autosport