Marc Marquez warned about key hazard point at Balaton Park MotoGP track

Marc Marquez has been urged to take extra care through the opening sector of the Balaton Park Circuit, with Ducati test rider Michele Pirro pointing to a potential accident hotspot at the Hungarian track

The warning comes after a major pile-up at Turn 2 during the first full-distance World Superbike race at the venue in July, when former Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Iannone ran into the back of Danilo Petrucci.

Garrett Gerloff, Remy Gardner and Iker Lecuona were all hurt after getting caught up in the incident, forcing officials to red flag the race.

Pirro has ridden the 4.1km track on two occasions on either side of the WSBK round, including a Michelin tyre test in June that marked the first time a MotoGP bike had lapped the newly-built facility.

Both Marquez and teammate Francesco Bagnaia sampled the venue earlier this week on a Ducati Panigale V4 R, but Pirro remains the only Ducati rider to have tested there on a grand prix machine.

“After the test last June, some improvements were made to the asphalt and I saw all our riders very enthusiastic,” Pirro told GPOne.

“[Marquez and Bagnaia] were happy [with the track] because they had fun with the Ducati. I think they’ll wear out more pads than tyres!

“It’s certainly a special track where we’ll need to be particularly careful especially in the first section - Turn 2 and Turn 3, since we saw a major fall in Race 1 in WorldSBK.

“It is an uncommon track where there is lots of braking with numerous restarts.

“We will have to adapt the style a bit compared to the usual. In my opinion, all of the riders will be up to the task.”

Hungary will host its first MotoGP race since 1992 at Balaton Park on 24 August. The World Superbike Championship was the first major international series to visit the Balaton Park Circuit, hosting a trio of races in July, providing a glimpse of what to expect when MotoGP arrives at the venue.

Following their private test, both Marquez and Bagnaia gave the venue a thumbs-up, noting its start-stop nature and low-speed layout make it stand out from the rest of the calendar.