Márquez Crashes & Calls for Assen Changes | MotoGP 2024

Marc Márquez qualified directly on Friday for the second part of the qualification for the TT Assen, but that was not easy. In the first free practice, when he ran the fastest time, he went down hard in the Ramshoek, to experience a solid crash during the second training. Research in the Medical Center showed that he only had some bruises on his finger, face, abdomen and left elbow from the crashes, but that was enough for the Ducati driver to provide the TT Circuit with an advice for the future.

“The gravel is too great and they have to change that for next year, since this is a circuit where you normally have a lot of speed if you fall,” said Márquez when he spoke to the media. After his second crash of the day, he initially got up, to sit again shortly afterwards. “The pain came in delayed. I got up and for some reason I suddenly noticed that I didn’t get air. The fact that I slid through the gravel on my stomach caused my stomach, my noble parts and my face. It is true that there are stones in the gravel bin.”

“That has to change for next year. You can go to the gravel bin and see for yourself that the stones are quite large. But let’s look,” continued the eight -time world champion, who did not necessarily want to argue for more asphalt in the lanes. “If you crash and there is a lot of asphalt, then it takes longer before you come to a stop. You then need larger spout strips. So the gravel is necessary, but we have to work on the stones. Especially on a circuit like this is that of criticism, because the speed is very high every round.”

Bales of first crash

The crash in the second Friday training was in the eyes of Márquez one that can happen, because he was currently working on a qualifying simulation. He was a lot more of the first fall of the day. “The first crash was a big mistake. That is a crash that you have to prevent, because the circuit was not in optimum condition and the temperature was quite low. However, the second was during a Time Attack. You can’t think about the fact that you shouldn’t crash on Saturday. So I didn’t change my philosophy.”