Ducati claims Marc Marquez’s Austria brakes issue “won’t happen again”

Ducati claims the brake issue that thwarted Marc Marquez at the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix “won’t happen again”, though it wouldn’t reveal any details about it.

Seven-time world champion Marc Marquez was expected to fight for the podium at the Red Bull Ring two weeks ago, but instead could do no better than fifth.

Marquez later revealed he had issues with his front brake and admitted he was “lucky” to even finish the race.

It was a problem that proved costly for Marquez, as it saw him slip 12 points down on championship leader Jorge Martin, who was second in Austria.

As the Japanese Grand Prix gets underway, Ducati’s Davide Tardozzi insists the problem has been identified and rectified.

“Yeah, we know now what had happened, and we’ve got it so it won’t happen again,” he told the MotoGP world feed.

“So, everything is quite clear so far about the issue.

“We really hope that it doesn’t happen again. But we’re looking forward.”

Tardozzi added: “It was a missed opportunity, but it’s part of the 22 races.

“Anyway, we know that in the rest of the championship, we will go to race tracks that don’t suit our bike properly.

“But we know that Marc will attack starting from here at Motegi.”

Ducati sounds the alarm about Indonesia chances

With Austria considered a missed opportunity, this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix is being seen as a must-win for Marquez to keep his championship hopes alive.

That’s because next week’s Indonesian Grand Prix is likely to see Ducati struggle due to the return of Michelin’s stiffer rear tyre carcass, while Marquez has never finished a main race at Mandalika.

“It’s obvious that here we will try hard to be in front of our opponents, but at the end our target is like every race - to be on the podium,” Tardozzi said of Japan.

“In Indonesia, we will try to do our best.

“We know that somebody else will be faster than us, but we know that Marc sometimes does something exciting.”