“I’m not surprised”: Marc Marquez blamed for Aprilia crash in Indonesia sprint

Trackhouse MotoGP team boss has blamed Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin for the crash between Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez in the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint.

The start of Saturday’s 13-lap sprint was dramatic, as four riders went side by side into the first corner vying for the lead.

VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was on the extreme inside line, with Marc Marquez alongside him after a good launch from fourth.

On the outside were factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi and polesitter Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia.

At Turn 1, Di Giannantonio went slightly wide, which forced Marquez to sit up.

This, in turn, led to Bezzecchi doing the same thing, with Fernandez then running into the back of his Aprilia stablemate and taking both of them down.

Martin was behind this group at the start and took the lead through the chaos.

“Jorge and Marc were extremely aggressive”

In a brief interview with the MotoGP world feed in the immediate aftermath, Trackhouse boss Davide Brivio laid the blame at Marquez and Martin’s feet.

“It’s difficult. I mean, from the first images, it looks like Jorge and Marc were extremely aggressive at the first corner.

“They wanted to gain as many positions as possible.

“And I think that was the result, coming aggressively on everyone else.

“I think, for the first corner, yes [they were too aggressive], but I’m not surprised.”

There was no notification from the FIM MotoGP stewards that the incident was being investigated.

It has proven to be a costly crash for Bezzecchi, who now trails 59 points in a championship battle he is fading out of.

Bad day for Aprilia at Mandalika

Team-mate Martin looked set to claim a dominant sprint victory to extend his championship lead to five points.

But an apparent tyre pressure issue with five laps to go forced him to ease off and allow Marquez into the lead.

Martin tried to rally in the closing stages, but made a mistake going into the penultimate corner with two laps remaining and ran off track.

He took the chequered flag in fourth position, while Marquez registered an eighth sprint win of the season to take the outright lead in the standings for the first time.

Ai Ogura ended up as the only Aprilia rider on the podium in second, at the end of a race it was predicted to sweep 1-2-3.

Going into Sunday’s grand prix, Marquez now leads Martin by four points.

Fernandez will have a second opportunity to try to win from a career-first pole position on Sunday.