Marquez recorded first Ducati MotoGP crash after 780km in testing

The crash Marc Marquez suffered in the direction of the top of day two of the Sepang pre-season take a look at was his first as a manufacturing unit Ducati rider in MotoGP.

With quarter-hour remaining, Marquez left the pits for a time assault in a bid to maneuver up from 14th within the day’s standings.

After a warm-up lap, Marquez improved his private greatest occasions in sectors one and two, solely to hit the bottom heading into Flip 9. It was the identical nook the place Francesco Bagnaia crashed, albeit on the exit, throughout his title run-in with Jorge Martin final season.

The six-time MotoGP champion walked away unscathed however didn’t return on observe, even with 10 minutes left, as Marquez’s back-up bike was configured for apply begins scheduled on the finish of the day.

In his first stint with the title-winning Ducati team in Barcelona final November, Marquez accomplished 49 laps, totalling 229.07km, with out falling.

The momentum continued into the primary take a look at of the yr this week, as he logged 54 laps of Sepang on Wednesday and completed second behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

On Thursday he added one other 45 laps to his tally earlier than crashing on what was his forty sixth lap of the day.  

With Sepang circuit measuring 5.543km, he had accomplished 548.757km when he started his forty sixth lap on Thursday and a centesimal in whole throughout the 2 days. Including the gap from the beginning line to Flip 9, he would have lined a complete distance of round 550km.

Combining the gap he lined within the Barcelona take a look at, Marquez accomplished nearly 780km earlier than crashing for the primary time on a manufacturing unit Desmosedici.

In 2023, his ultimate yr at Honda, he broke all information with 29 crashes through the marketing campaign, one thing that was blamed on the traits of the more and more hard-to-ride RC213V. Even his team-mate and 2020 champion Joan Mir recorded 24 falls that very same season.

Moreover, final yr on a Ducati GP23 entered by Gresini Racing, Marquez was main MotoGP’s ‘crash rating’ till rookie Pedro Acosta leapfrogged him on the finish of the season. Marquez completed the yr with 24 crashes, in comparison with 29 for Acosta.

The incident late on Thursday meant that Marquez’s quickest time of the day, a 1m58.447s, wasn’t totally consultant of his pace, and actually was a lot slower than the 1m57.606s lap he recorded on Wednesday.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing crash

Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos

Out of the 46 laps he accomplished on Thursday, solely 23 had been full laps – and at most he accomplished simply three flying excursions. In his first run, on the fourth lap, he had already lowered his time to 1m58.648s, and in his sixth run, on his twenty third lap of the day, he already set his greatest time of 1m58.447s. 

Later, in his seventh run, he accomplished the longest stint, with seven laps, of which 5 had been full laps – 1m59.9s, 2m00.0s, 1m59.2s, 1m58.9s and 1m59.9s.

The Spaniard later ventured out on observe 4 extra occasions, one with out finishing any excursions, and three with two flying laps in mid-to-high 1m59s.

In his final run, the twelfth, Marquez had been enhancing his personal time within the first two sectors, however within the third sector he crashed and ended his day prematurely.