Marc Marquez has sustained a broken finger and bruising to his ribs in a crash during Friday’s practice for the German MotoGP.
Six-time champion Marc Marquez has been passed fit to continue at this weekend’s German MotoGP despite sustaining a broken finger and bruised rib in a nasty highside crash at the Sachsenring’s infamous Turn 11 during practice on Friday.
The Gresini Racing rider had been second-fastest in Friday morning’s FP1, and in Practice during the afternoon he was fastest before the final time attacks began.
However, Marquez crashed at the fast downhill right-hand corner when the front tyre of his Ducati let go, causing the rear to come around on him as he tried to save it on his elbow and knee, only for the rear Michelin tyre to then find grip again and launch him into a nasty highside at over 120mph.
The Spaniard’s best time came from a one-lap run that he completed after the crash. After completing that lap, Marquez exited the Gresini garage and changed out of his leathers, before heading to the circuit medical centre.
While there, he dropped to 13th in the session and out of automatic Q2 qualification, while Maverick Vinales topped Practice for the MotoGP German Grand Prix.
He was diagnosed with a fracture to the index finger of his left hand as well as a badly bruised rib cage – but was given the all-clear by MotoGP’s medical team to continue for the rest of the weekend tomorrow.
“The feeling with the bike was good, but it’s obvious that the afternoon crash has had a great impact on this first day here at the Sachsenring,” Marquez said.
“I’m not worried about the fracture in my finger, but the bruise to the rib cage is surely the one bothering me the most and that also prevented me from continuing the session.
“Now it is time to rest and tomorrow morning we’ll see what my physical condition is.”
The 31-year old was one of a number of riders to crash at the high-speed corner, which comes after nearly 50 seconds of left handers that allow the right side of the front tyre to cool down – something that was even more of an issue than usual on Friday thanks to high winds that contributed to the cooling effect.
Marquez is currently third in the MotoGP riders’ standings, 58 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin.
Although he crashed five times and ultimately withdrew from the race at last year’s German Grand Prix, the Gresini Ducati rider was unbeaten at the Sachsenring between 2010 and 2021.
