Marc Marquez’s Sprint lasted just one lap and one corner: a crash in Turn 2 put an end to his comeback attempt from seventh place and it was impossible to get back on track. The race ended almost immediately for the Gresini standard bearer, who is not having the best weekend so far. In fact, already in qualifying he slipped on the last attempt, throwing away a good lap and being forced to start from the third row.
The eight-time world champion made a mea culpa at the end of the Assen Sprint and acknowledged that the crash was the result of a driving error. The comeback feat was not successful this time, despite Marc trying everything possible to stay in the group at the foot of the podium in a frantic search for a few more positions: “It was a human, driving error, which I should have avoided. But sometimes it happens and the only thing you can do is learn from your mistakes. Already on the first lap I risked falling, I noticed the hole and I thought I shouldn’t touch it again.”
“But on the second lap, in the middle of the pack, I lost my bearings. There I arrived with more speed, the bike jumped and I lost the front. It’s one of those mistakes that you have to avoid and that you can only learn from,” reveals Marquez. “It was my mistake because after I hit the hole on the first lap, I knew I shouldn’t go there again.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
However, Marquez is realistic and admits that even without the fall he could not have aspired to the podium. Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin made too big a difference, but even third place was out of reach: “How much could I have done without the fall? Fourth or fifth. It depends on Bastianini, whether he had caught me or not”.
“More than anger for having lost points, it is anger for having made a mistake. I don’t like it, even more so if it is 100% my mistake. There are mistakes that happen because you push to the maximum, but this was totally avoidable. This year all the planets must align to fight for the world championship, there are two superior riders who go faster”, explains the eight-time world champion, who sees himself increasingly out of the fight for the world championship.
But the weekend is not over yet and there is still the race on Sunday. The main goal is to regain confidence after today’s two crashes, then we think about the result, aiming to finish in the top five: “The positive and optimistic goal is to be in the top 5, even more so coming from two crashes. Tomorrow I have to regain some confidence in the warm-up, but we will try to make a good start. However, in the race there are three riders who can set the pace”.
Marquez then comments on the traffic in qualifying, where on the last fast lap no one tried to tow the large group of riders. In the excitement, Marc slipped in an attempt to overtake Aleix Espargaro: “As is normal on such a fast track, there was a large group waiting to see who was pulling. I wouldn’t have shot because I was ahead in the standings, as was Martin. So he would have pulled someone who necessarily had to go around to improve. I saw that Aleix had made a mistake in 3rd, I tried to overtake him, but I was too optimistic. That’s a very critical corner, there’s a hole in the middle and there were a lot of crashes on that corner this weekend.”
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