Marc Marquez 11th: “Strategy wasn’t to crash twice”, Slide Control “didn’t work”

Marc Marquez endured his worst Friday of the 2025 season at Mandalika, crashing twice on his way to 11th place and missing direct Qualifying 2 access for the first time this year.

Fresh from clinching the MotoGP world title just five days earlier, Marquez’s day was marred by a pair of accidents.

The first fall was a harmless lowside, but the second saw Marquez kicked into a highside when he lost the rear through the fast Turn 5, dumping him down hard on his shoulder.

“It's not the best way to celebrate the title,” Marquez quipped.

“Stiff,” he said of his physical condition. “After the second high side, the strategy was just to finish the session.

“Starting the final run, I was still inside Q2, but the problem is that we had three yellow flags in a row. And then on the fourth lap, the tyres already start to drop.

“But the priority was not to crash again because I didn't have the feeling today. We will retry tomorrow.”

 "The controls cannot help you"

The highside was the kind of ‘slide-not-spin’ accident that MotoGP's recently introduced stability or slide control system should theoretically have caught.

However, the recalibration - performed by each factory - to suit the stiffer rear tyre construction used at Mandalika may explain why it slipped through the net.

“When the grip of the tyre is too low, then the controls cannot help you,” insisted Marquez.

“When I started to pick up the bike, I started to lose on the side-slide, the grip. And on that side-slide it's more difficult.”

Told that stability control is designed to step in under exactly those circumstances, Marquez repeated:

“Yeah, but at that moment, it didn't work because the grip of the tyre was too low.

“Then, when I put a new soft tyre again, and this morning with a [new] medium, it was working well.

“Let's see if tomorrow we can work to try to improve our feeling with the bike because I'm not only losing on that acceleration, I'm also losing a lot on the brake points.”

"Bezzecchi is flying"

A winner of 14 Sprint races this season, Marquez claims that a top five at a track he has never won at will be a success on Saturday afternoon.

“I started optimistically this weekend, but it's not my circuit. I just want to pass this weekend and wait until Australia!” he said.

“Of course, I will try. Tomorrow I will start to push, and I can crash again, because I cannot go out to the track and just think not to crash.

“I will push again, but from 11th, you cannot go to the top straight away. 

"Especially, it’s Bezzecchi [fastest for Aprilia] that is flying.

“If we can finish in the top five, it will be a success.”

Before the Sprint, Marquez will join team-mate Francesco Bagnaia and both VR46 Ducatis in trying to fight through Qualifying 1.

“Q1 will be difficult to pass. A lot of fast riders there. Let's see tomorrow morning where we are and what we can do.”

Bagnaia, double winner at Motegi last weekend, was just 17th on Friday.

Gresini GP24 team-mates Fermin Aldeguer and Alex Marquez were the only Desmosedici riders to qualify directly for Q2.