There wasn’t much to see from Marc Marquez in the sprint at the Dutch TT in Assen. The Honda rider initially qualified 17th. That was his worst qualifying result since 20th place in Assen two years ago. In the sprint, Marquez also saw the checkered flag in 17th place.
In 13 laps, the six-time MotoGP World Champion lost 20 seconds to winner Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati). That’s around one and a half seconds per lap. It was his worst race result ignoring circumstances such as crashes or penalties.
That’s why Marquez spoke after the sprint of the “worst moment” of his career as a motorcycle racer. “Apart from the injury, this is the worst moment of my sporting career,” said the 30-year-old openly after the sprint.
“Right now I’m driving for myself”
But he also adds: “Loss is easy, but I will never take the easy path.” As a result of the fall during warm-up at the Sachsenring, Marquez came to Assen with a bruised left thumb, ankle injury and a cracked rib.
“Right now I’m driving for myself and for my engineers. Even if you’re a second and a half slower, the problems are the same. I’ve been relaxed all day and haven’t attacked more than I feel.”
“Of course I try to stay focused. When you attack hard, the balance of the bike changes. This weekend I tuned the electronics so that I can ride safely.”
Marquez causes crash in qualifying
Nevertheless, Marquez caused a stir, because in qualifying he wanted to hang on to Enea Bastianini’s Ducati for a fast lap. First, the Italian skidded in Turn 1 and had to abandon the lap.
A little later, in turn four, Marquez crashed into Bastianini’s rear wheel and fell. Both had driven off the ideal line and had looked around for other drivers. Marquez noticed too late that Bastianini had slowed down. That’s how the crash happened.
“In Spain there is a saying that it rains when it’s wet,” Marquez sighs. Translated into German, he means something like: “First you have no luck, and then you have bad luck.” That was the end of qualifying for Marquez. Bastianini was able to continue.
“I did not see him”
“I’ve had this situation 1,000 times. Here I looked around so as not to impede other drivers. I didn’t see him,” says Marquez, noting that he has already apologized: “I visited him in the motor home. “
Bastianini also confirms this: “In turn 1 my front wheel almost slipped away – a good save! Then in turn 4 I saw that other drivers were coming from behind. I made room for them. I was on the outside and Marc was with me. It can happen. That’s MotoGP. After qualifying he came to my motor home and apologized.”