Ducati’s MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez crashed twice on a painful day of practice at the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen, Netherlands, on Friday, with the Spaniard saying he was lucky to walk away with no major injuries ahead of the weekend’s action.
Marquez, who has not won at Assen in seven years, arrives at the Cathedral of Speed with a 40-point lead, but as he put the Ducati through its paces, he struggled on the sweeping turns when the medium compound tire failed to grip in cool conditions.
The first crash saw Marquez go down in a highside crash and, as he ended up in the gravel, he quickly took off his left glove in apparent pain.
Photo: AFP
“I was a bit scared. I hit my nerve [in the elbow] and my hand was sleeping,” Marquez told reporters. “For that reason I took off my glove super quick, to understand what’s going on... I was able to move but the feeling was zero.”
On the second crash, Marquez lost his balance on a turn and slid into the gravel again, this time stomach down as the bike tumbled away from him.
The 32-year-old initially stood up, but appeared winded and quickly sat on his haunches holding his groin before he was helped off the track by marshals.
“It’s not an easy day for my body but apart from that I’m lucky because nothing important — some things, yes — but it’s not something that will be a problem for the next two days. Tomorrow I will check when I get up,” Marquez said with a smile.
“The first one [crash] was a bit strange because I was not really pushing but it felt super slippery. The second one was a consequence, it was a time attack but I did the time attack with the front tire that I crashed this morning,” he said.
Marquez also sported a small cut on his chin after his slide across the gravel, and the Ducati rider said the size of the stones did not help, as he also hurt his stomach.
“The rocks are super big and then when you arrive there with that high speed, it hits your body,” he added. “I had a problem and then I [could not] breathe there on the gravel because I was sliding on the gravel face down.”
Marquez was taken to the medical center for a check-up after the second crash and was declared fit to race this weekend.
He eventually advanced to the Q2 qualifying session, but he was not the only rider to crash on Friday, with his brother, Alex of Gresini Racing — second in the championship — also going down.
There were as many as nine crashes and two red flags coming out when Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura suffered a crash as his bike landed in a fiery heap, while Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori also went down due to a nasty highside.
“I’d say that was the most expensive MotoGP session ever,” said Gresini crew chief Frankie Carchedi.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying yesterday, while Marc Marquez is to start on the second row.
Quartararo is joined on the front by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez.
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