Alex Marquez explains “mistake” that caused Sepang MotoGP test crash

Alex Marquez says his crash on Wednesday at the Sepang MotoGP test came when he fitted new tyres to his Gresini Ducati and “made a small mistake”.

The Gresini rider is in the midst of is busiest pre-season as a Ducati rider, having been promoted to a factory-spec bike for the first time.

Alex Marquez has so far been happy with the GP26, though his Wednesday running was interrupted by a crash in the morning at Turn 5.

Speaking to the media after ending the day 12th overall, Marquez says he went from well-used rubber to a fresh tyre, which required a big adjustment and led to a mistake.

“This morning we had a lot of work testing different things, especially with the medium and used tyres, to understand things,” he is reported by Motorsport as saying.

“When I put on the new one, I crashed at Turn 5.

“When you go from a very worn compound to a new one, you gain two seconds, and it's tough; sometimes even your body struggles to adjust. I made a small mistake.”

Marquez noted that he was physically ok after the crash, but couldn’t complete his run plan due to the wet weather in the afternoon.

Big aero decision looming for Alex Marquez

As with his Ducati stablemates, Alex Marquez’s priority for the final day of testing centres on selecting the best aerodynamic package.

He didn’t use Ducati’s radical new front fairing on Wednesday, but says he was evaluating a number of different set-ups.

“When you have a lot of items, some ones are better, some ones not,” he said.

“So, in that moment, you should choose and it depends on riding style.

“Just we are trying to still understand a little bit about some small tests of the aerodynamics.

“It’s something that we still need to improve and understand. But overall, the feeling on the bike is good.

“Today I didn’t try it [the new fairing].

“It was not on the plan. We need to be precise with everything. That test was already done yesterday.

“We tried different combinations of aerodynamics. Tomorrow we will try to analyse everything and choose what is better, or what works a little bit better for us.”