Fall in the sprint, fall in the Grand Prix – Marc Marquez is frustrated and can’t explain the second crash – He still wants to “save” the remaining races somehow
The Honda factory team had a weekend to forget in Indonesia. Marc Marquez crashed in the sprint on the first lap. Joan Mir was far away from the World Championship points in 16th place. In the Grand Prix, both former world champions were eliminated due to crashes.
“I finished the race very early – way too early,” commented Marquez on the sprint crash. “One of my strengths is always the first laps. If you take risks in the first laps, it can happen. For the first time I crashed very early in the sprint.”
“I turned into turn 11 a bit too fast. I missed the braking point a bit and was too fast. I thought I had it under control, but that wasn’t the case. It was my mistake.”
“This year I am struggling a lot to find the right feeling to brake late, slide at the corner entry and have corner speed. I used the rear brake a bit more in that corner and slid a bit more.”
“When I released the brake to flip the bike, the rear wheel was putting pressure on the front wheel.” At this early stage in the sprint, Marquez was in sixth place. However, he doesn’t think he would have played a role in the leading group.
“In practice before qualifying I saw that our position was in the range of ninth, tenth, eleventh,” he estimates of the performance. “If I look at the pace from the sprint, I don’t think I would have scored World Championship points. The pace was too fast for our level. “
Fall in Grand Prix even without warning
The Grand Prix then took a little longer for him. On the eighth lap, the Honda was in the gravel in the fourth sector. “In turn 14, the front wheel slipped off me once again without warning,” said Marquez. It was his 23rd crash. Mir later crashed for the 20th time this season.
An early bath on Saturday for @marcmarquez93!
He’s out on lap 1! IndonesianGP pic.twitter.com/PmuUsG0jO2
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) October 14, 2023
“One more,” Marquez expresses frustration on DAZN Spain. “It’s coming to an end, only five races to go. No, no – it’s not taking too long. I want to apologise to the team. This weekend it has been getting worse day by day.”
“Normally it’s the other way round. We have to take a step back now. In the last few races, since India, it seemed like we were further ahead. Then you get encouraged, you see yourself closer to the leader.”
“But that makes you lose your reference. We have to go back to the mentality of Silverstone and Barcelona now. We have to take the step back and finish races again.” So drive to safety and don’t take any risks.
A weekend to forget for @marcmarquez93
His weekend ends in a double DNF IndonesianGP pic.twitter.com/O4jg8HxjLz
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) October 15, 2023
“I was very calm. After the sprint I was very calm,” Marquez nevertheless holds. “I wasn’t stressed, but it was one of those crashes you didn’t see coming. Without warning, I crashed.”
“It’s worse when you crash even though you try not to crash. The crash in the sprint I understood, the other one I didn’t. We have to go back to the mentality now and finish races again. My intention was to finish the race.”
After the crash, Marquez leaned against a tyre pile behind the track barrier for a few minutes. He kept his helmet on. What was going through his mind in those moments? Was it similar to the Sachsenring?
“I tried to understand my mistake. I didn’t do anything special. I just did what the bike told me to do. The telemetry shows that I did exactly the same as the lap before. It was my mistake, I apologised to the team.”
“I’m approaching the remaining five races as best I can. On two tracks it will be very difficult for us, but on two tracks it can also go better. We’ll see if we can salvage the situation as best we can. “
