Marc Marquez’s hot run of form will be interrupted after being ruled out of the Algarve Grand Prix this weekend following a training accident.
The Portuguese circuit will host the penultimate round of the MotoGP season, where Marquez would have been vying for three wins on the trot having taken victory in both the Grand Prix of the Americas and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last month.
However, Honda has confirmed the 28-year-old will be sidelined as recovers from a crash last weekend.
“This past Saturday Marc Marquez, while preparing for the Algarve Grand Prix with one of his standard off-road training sessions, suffered a fall that caused a slight head concussion,” read a statement from the Honda Racing Corporation.
“After a few days of rest at home and seeing that he was still unwell, today Marquez has been assessed by doctors in a medical check-up to evaluate his current status.
“As a precautionary measure, this coming weekend Marquez will not contest the Algarve Grand Prix.”
It’s unclear whether Marquez will be replaced for this weekend.
The concussion represents the latest hurdle for the six-time premier class world champion, who endured a long road back from the broken humerus he suffered in his right arm in July, 2020.
Marquez has often spoken of the pain he still has to manage, although his results had improved considerably of late.
Having often been relatively on the pace since returning for Round 3 of the season – ironically also at Portugal – Marquez’s first half of the campaign was littered with in-race crashes.
He broke through for a grand prix victory at his German stronghold, the anti-clockwise Sachsenring – but that remained his only top five result in his first 10 races back.
The last four events have been far more fruitful, with second at Aragon and fourth at San Marino preceding his back-to-back wins in October.
Marquez currently holds sixth in the standings, seven points behind Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and six ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).
The 2021 MotoGP campaign will finish at Valencia on November 12-14 – Marquez’s status for which is not yet known.