One less rider in Argentina again! Marc Márquez will not take part in the next MotoGP race after his injury at the Portuguese GP

The most prestigious category of the World Championship of Road Motorcycles has only one race weekend left and three riders will not be involved in the upcoming Argentine GP. After Pol Espargaro and Eneo Bastianini, Marc Márquez will not race this week! The eight-time world champion suffered a bone injury in the thumb of his right hand after a crash on the third lap of the opening grand prix of the season in Portugal.

Factory Honda rider Marc Márquez will miss the second MotoGP race of the season, as doctors have diagnosed a fracture of the first metacarpal bone.

He sustained the injury during the third lap of Sunday’s Portuguese GP when he collided with the bikes of Jorge Martín and Miguel Oliveira.

According to The Race, Márquez underwent surgery to remove two screws in his right hand. The procedure will not allow the 30-year-old Spaniard to take part in this weekend’s VC of Argentina.

Referring to the team’s official statement, Márquez will skip the next race in order to fully concentrate on his recovery and arrive at the upcoming grand prix in the best possible condition.

Márquez hasn’t avoided accidents in recent years, which have ultimately knocked him out of several races. After his 2020 Jerez crash, which brought an end to his dominant era, the eight-time champion has been picking off injuries like a treadmill.

Overall, he has had to put up with 24 missed grand prix in the last three seasons. But the interesting fact is that Márquez will escape the double long lap penalty he earned for the aforementioned accident with Oliveira.

This penalty does not carry over to the next race if the rider in question does not participate. In addition to Márquez, Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini will miss the second race of the season after injuries.

Unless there are further retirements or any of the injured drivers are replaced, there will be just 19 drivers on the grid for the Argentine GP. So it is worth considering whether the inclusion of Saturday’s sprints will result in a thinner starting field at the cost of more action on track.

Sources: MotoGP, The Race