Marc Marquez: Assen must “do something” to stop MotoGP riders “flying”
Marc Marquez says Assen's run-off areas must be improved after a series of high-speed MotoGP crashes left riders airborne
Marc Marquez and Luca Marini were among the riders calling for changes to Assen's run-off areas after Sunday's Dutch MotoGP.
Following high-speed crashes for Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Marquez and Jorge Martin during practice, championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was sent to hospital for checks after losing control of his Aprilia through the ultra-fast Turn 15.
After sliding off, Bezzecchi's crash became more violent as he cartwheeled through the gravel trap.
"Every rider that goes into the gravel at high speed is flying"
Hospital checks cleared Bezzecchi of any significant injuries, but Aldeguer suffered a fractured vertebra after being launched into the air by the gravel trap on Friday, while Gresini team-mate Alex Marquez was left battered and bruised.
Reigning champion Marc Marquez, who had already highlighted the “very big rocks in the gravel trap, that are in the rules” as a concern on Friday, said action must be taken to stop riders being sent “flying”.
“Assen is a very nice circuit [but] I already said last year, and I keep saying this year, because the run-off areas - they need to do something,” Marquez said on Sunday evening.
“Because every rider that goes into the gravel at high speed is flying.
“I don't know what they need to do, but on Friday, we saw Fermin get injured by a normal crash when he hit the gravel.
“Today Bezzecchi, when going in the gravel, started to roll [cartwheel]. So they need to understand what they need to do.”
HRC rider Luca Marini also highlighted how close Bezzecchi came to reaching the barrier.
“I think he was really lucky not to hit the wall,” Marini said. “I hope he’s good and a speedy recovery for Sachsenring. But for sure we will have a talk about that run-off area. Because we can improve it.
“The corner speed is unbelievable now. And if you crash there it’s a little bit, not enough space.”
Marini agreed with Marquez that the gravel trap appeared to make the crash worse, comparing it with Jorge Martin's accident on Friday.
“The problem is that you put gravel, but then you start to roll a lot. So maybe [it’s better] just to have more space, also with a little bit of grass. Like we saw for the incident for Martin in Turn 12, without gravel and dry grass, it was perfect.
“He didn’t jump [into the air], he didn’t roll like Aldeguer. Aldeguer started to jump in the gravel because when you crash here, you are never slow, you always arrive in the gravel super fast.
“So we will talk in the safety commission and try to improve it because the wall was also not in a good position. Also in Turn 7, it’s a little bit of something that we can improve.”
MotoGP is switching to smaller 850cc engines for 2027, although Marini does not expect that to solve the problem.
“For sure, if you crash [at Turn 15] even with a Moto2 bike, you can arrive at the wall. So this means we can improve that run-off area,” he said.
While large grass run-off areas work well in the dry, they can be hazardous in the wet, which is why gravel is used. However, different circuits use different sizes of gravel.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
