If Marc Marquez is to win the 2026 MotoGP World Championship, he will have to achieve a feat that has not been seen for 34 years.
Marquez is expected to return at the Italian Grand PrixHe missed the main races at Le Mans and Barcelona over the weekend due to injury.
The reigning champion arrived at Mugello in ninth place, 85 points behind Aprilia rider Marco Bezecchi. still, Marquez is sure to win the championship.According to a journalist.
How do you expect Marc Marquez to fare if he returns to the Italian GP?
Wayne Rainey was the last MotoGP rider to win a title despite injury.
Incredibly, it’s extremely rare for a rider to win the championship after missing out on the season.
In fact, one has to go back to the 1992 season, when Wayne Rennie won the second of his three 500cc titles.
During qualifying for the German Grand Prix, Rennie broke his wrist and several ribs at high altitude and injured his knee. Surprisingly, the American tried to compete, but had to retire due to illness.
Two weeks later, when he tried to compete in Ascen, he experienced so much discomfort in practice that he had to withdraw.
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Rennie was 45 points behind Mick Doohan in second place at the Sachsenring before the race. But crucially, Dohan had a serious accident A leg injury sustained in practice for the Netherlands TT will keep him out until the final round of the year in Brazil.
In his absence, Rennie was able to pull back and eventually reverse the deficit. He won the championship by four points.
Marquez He missed the final four rounds of the 2025 season, after injuring his shoulder at the Indonesian GP, ​​but has locked up the title at this point. The rotator cuff release from the surgery has taken a toll on him in recent months, leading to subsequent surgery.
Rainey’s case provides little motivation because without Doohan’s injury, he almost certainly would have finished second. But such omissions are part of motorcycle racing.
Marquez doesn’t want absences to play any further part in the title race, and will no doubt believe he can make a historic return to form.
For the two title favorites Bezecchi and George Martin at this stage, the importance of staying upright cannot be understated. They might buy the occasional DNF — both drivers had three earlier each — but a no-show is another matter.
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