After the nearly perfect practice sessions, Marc Márquez finished today with a crash the first Grand Prix of the season. The Repsol rider had a bad start that forced him to increase his pace in the first laps, which caused a crash were he was thrown in the air on the fast right corner number 5. Fortunately, Emilio Alzamora’s pupil was unharmed, despite the spectacular fall.
When the red lights went out at Losail circuit, the Repsol rider had a bad start that ultimately determined the outcome of his race. At the end of the first lap, he was on eleventh position, after letting the clutch go too early at the start and lose several positions in the classification.
The stress finally betrayed him, as from the second lap on he started a recovery pushing at a very high pace that finally left him on the ground. In the second lap he was already ninth, seventh in the third lap and sixth on lap four. A lap later -the fifth- the Repsol rider skidded in corner number 5 and was dramatically thrown out in the air. Fortunately, despite the hard crash, Márquez was unhurt, but had no chance to go back to the race, as the bike was badly damaged.
Márquez leaves Qatar with 0 points but he is already thinking about the next round, the Spanish Grand Prix, with his lesson learned.
Marc Márquez, fall >> Audio
“I’m fine, though I’m angry with myself because the team had done a great job for this Grand Prix. I want to apologize to them. In the free practice sessions I felt really well on the bike, but I had a bad start and I wanted to recover too fast. As they say, you always learn the hard way and this crash will be a lesson for me. The first mistake was at the start and then I made the second, to rush. I am really angry because we were doing such a good job.
I was worried about the start and the front of the bike jumped. The crash was when I was going out of the corner, as I opened the gas too early. The warm-up being yesterday is no excuse, as it is the same for everyone. We still have many kilometres ahead to learn and today the overeagerness to do well took its toll. I am certain I will learn from that mistake. It was a pity, as I had a good pace. Anyway, I hope everything goes better in Jerez.”
