Marc Marquez withdraws from German MotoGP
The eight-time world champion, whose 11-race unbeaten run at the Sachsenring ended with a lowly eleventh in the Saturday Sprint, was visibly in pain after this morning's Turn 7 highside.
It followed a Turn 1 fall on Friday (which wiped out Johann Zarco in the aftermath), plus two Turn 13 (last corner) accidents and another Turn 1 fall in Saturday's qualifying.
Marquez's dwindling patience at the ongoing risk levels needed to ride the RC213V was also visibly illustrated when he gave his bike the middle finger after the rear wheel let go and almost launched him off at the fearsome Turn 11 Waterfall corner on Friday. Marquez put the gesture down to adrenaline.
Now winless for over 600 days, since Misano 2021, Marquez opted simply to reach the finish of Saturday's Sprint race after yet more rear-wheel scares, but hoped a return to his normal set-up on Sunday would restore some rear grip.
Instead, the rear tyre let go again and Marquez will now join Repsol team-mate Joan Mir (hand injury) and LCR's Alex Rins (broken leg) in being absent from the German Grand Prix grid.
A statement from the Repsol Honda team simply read: "Marc Marquez has elected to miss the German Grand Prix after suffering a crash at Turn 7 during morning Warm Up." That sentence suggests it was purely Marquez's decision, rather than a joint decision with the team.
Speaking to Spanish TV, Marquez said that he didn't feel ready to race and has lots of bruises on his body and ankle, in addition to the small fracture.
LCR's Takaaki Nakagami, now Honda's sole remaining rider at the Sachsenring, injured his hand in a practice fall.
Practice for the Dutch TT at Assen, the final round before the summer break, begins on Friday morning.
