Marc Marquez apologises for Bastianini incident, ‘safe mode’ for Sprint
Performing well below his usual standard as he nurses a painful rib fracture (plus thumb and ankle injuries) from Sachsenring, Marquez triggered the unusual incident after initially seeking a tow from the Italian.
But when Bastianini lost the front into Turn 1 he abandoned the lap. Aware of faster riders approaching a few corners later, he then pulled wide and looked behind.
Marquez did the same, but as the Repsol Honda rider also looked backwards, Bastianini slowed further and Marquez rode into the rear of his Ducati.
A shocked Marquez was thrown to the ground, while Bastianini remained on two wheels.
A bizarre incident!
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 24, 2023
Both riders looking to file back onto the racing line and @marcmarquez93 rides up the back of @Bestia23! #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/bS8e5v2EGR
“Of course [it was my mistake],” said Marquez. “I mean, it's like on the street, the one that is [hitting the other] from the rear made the mistake, no?
“Today I was very relaxed all day, not pushing more than what I feel. But in Spain, we have a saying [‘it never rains but it pours’].
“I’ve had that situation 100 or 1,000 times, but this time when I was looking behind to not disturb other riders, Enea closed the gas and I didn't see.
“But I already visited him in his motorhome. Everything is OK.”
Marquez was left 17th on the grid and Bastianini 18th.
The factory Ducati rider confirmed: “At Turn 1 I lost the front. It was a good save, but I lost the lap!
“Marc was behind me and I closed the throttle. Then in Turn 4, I have seen the other riders coming from behind and I made space [for them].
“I was outside, Marc went with me, but because he was watching behind [he hit] me. But it can happen. MotoGP is like this.
“After qualifying he came to my motorhome to say sorry to me.”
Marquez: 'Safe mode' for the Sprint race
After his lowly qualifying, Marquez was then the only rider to pick soft tyres front and rear for the Sprint and has also taken a ‘safe mode’ approach to his electronics.
“When you're pushing very, very hard, then the bike balance, everything changes. Even the electronics," he said. “But this weekend I set up the electronics to be safe, to ride in a safe mode.
"And today, I choose the soft [front] option, because this is the tyre that gives me the feedback. It’s performing less, but it's the one that gives me better feedback. So for that reason I was racing with that tyre. It was too soft, yes, but it was my decision.”
A shadow of the rider that has won six MotoGP titles, Marquez finished where he had started, in 17th, but indicated that the RCV remains unpredictable to ride even at reduced speed.
“In warm-up in Sachsenring I wasn't pushing,” he replied, referring to the fifth and final German Grand Prix accident that caused his latest fractures and prompted a withdraw from last Sunday's race.
LCR's Takaaki Nakagami was the top Honda rider in 12th on Saturday, with Marquez’s stand-in team-mate Iker Lecuona 20th and HRC test rider Stefan Bradl 22nd and last.
World Superbike rider Lecuona agreed with Marquez and Bradl about the unpredictable nature of the current Honda.
“It's a very critical bike, [you] don't have any warning,” said Lecuona. “It's true today in the morning I started to feel better with the front tyre. I made a save one time in Corner 5 and during the Sprint race I could feel the locking on the front tyre in Corner 1. So sometimes you have this warning and sometimes not.
“It also depends on the tyre… But yeah, what is sure is that the bike is critical and sometimes you don't have time to do nothing because you don't feel nothing.”
