Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez lost control while pursuing Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales at turn three in Assen during the afternoon second practice session.
Although Marc Marquez did not take any significant risks during Friday’s Dutch GP, he did experience a bit of fright. The Repsol Honda rider lost control of his bike at turn three at Assen while pursuing Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) during the afternoon P2 practice.
Marc Marquez now faces the difficult Cathedral of Speed at Assen after suffering injuries and experiencing so many crashes — five at Sachsenring last weekend.
While experiencing one of the worst phases of his career, speculation regarding the rider’s departure from Honda is growing, and he has been less secretive about his dissatisfaction with the RC213V’s level of performance.
“The thing is that I had Maverick in front and I lost more or less 0.150s on the straight,” Marquez explained his crash to the reporters. “And I tried to recover on that corner because that was the way to try to recover and to try not to be as close as possible at the exit of the five – because then I would lose another 0.150s.”
“So that was the main reason.”
When asked about the moment when he nearly crashed after losing the rear on a sharp turn, Marquez said: “In all my attacks, because of that moment, I was more cautious because that moment was coming out of the pits, so I didn’t expect it.
“And for that reason, if you see the sectors, I was attacking in the first and second, but in the third and fourth I would slow down and finish the lap – because there are fast corners there and I didn’t want to crash there.”
The Repsol Honda team manager, Alberto Puig, provided the following comments on the eight-time world champion’s moment on the official MotoGP website: “Marc is obviously not happy. He is bruised and sore, let’s say he is not in the best physical condition.
“He had many impacts and crashed many times in Germany…no rider is happy to crash so much. He knows perfectly well that the bike is not performing as well as he needs it to.
“On the other hand, he’s a champion and he’s always pushing hard and that’s why he’s been crashing, because he never gives up. He’s coming to a serious time and he has to be careful.
“Here in Assen, he is still very sore from his ribs and ankle, but we will see what he can do. Overall, we know he is not happy but we respect him.”
