Márquez, after ramming a rival: "Mentally, it's the hardest moment of my career"

Marc Márquez continues in free fall.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
23 June 2023 Friday 22:23
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Márquez, after ramming a rival: "Mentally, it's the hardest moment of my career"

Marc Márquez continues in free fall... how far? In Assen, after his catastrophic weekend at the Sachsenring (5 crashes, a fracture, a sprain and a fissure), the Repsol Honda rider was shipwrecked again on a resounding Saturday: in the qualifying session he inadvertently crashed in a ridiculous action with Enea Bastianini (and finished 17th on the grid), his 14th crash of the year, and in the Sprint he finished 17th, his worst result this year (crossing the finish line), 20 seconds behind the winner, Marco Bezzecchi.

His reflection could not be more realistic: "It is the hardest moment of my career on a mental level." Seven crashes in the last five days on an indomitable Honda summarize his absolute disaster, unparalleled in his 11 years in MotoGP.

“It is the hardest moment of my sports career on a mental level, apart from an injury. But it's time to continue working, by force of sacrifice, tomorrow finish the race, then a week and a half of rest, little beach, reflect, and see if I am physically better in Silverstone ”, he commented with a gesture of resignation to the Dazn TV microphone.

After the crash on Friday looking to enter Q2 when he pushed at the end of the session, the 13th time in the championship that he has gone down, Márquez started badly on Saturday.

"This morning I was feeling better, but it rains and it pours, it was a fall with very bad luck, it happened in the past, it happened today and it will happen in the future. It was a strong blow, the rib suffered more, but I have decided to go out to the Sprint to gain confidence again".

The fall in the qualifying session was grotesque: Márquez hit Enea Bastianini from behind, when the Catalan turned to see if any faster riders were arriving.

This is how he explained it: "You have scares of this type many times, sometimes the pilots crash in the pit-lane. In the place where it happened is a point where it goes with a touch of gas, fast pilots came and when I turned I, he cut the gas, but it's the fault of the one behind, as happens on the street. I have to take the blame. But it was an unfortunate action", admitted the Catalan pilot, who will start 17th this Sunday. in the long run.