Marc Marquez’s first words after controversial Marco Bezzecchi sprint crash

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez has given his first thoughts on the controversial collision he had with title rival Marco Bezzecchi in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint.

Aprilia’s Bezzecchi has to stop Marquez from outscoring him by eight points across this weekend’s races at Lusail to keep his slim championship hopes alive.

Bezzecchi set a new lap record to beat Marquez to pole in qualifying, and led the sprint before it was red-flagged due to a crash for Pecco Bagnaia.

Marquez led at the restart, before the pair collided at the start of the fourth lap.

Marquez’s airbag deployed in Bezzecchi clash

Marquez went into Turn 1 in the lead at the start of lap four, but ran wide slightly.

Bezzecchi moved into the gap this created, though the space quickly closed as the pair converged at the apex.

They collided in that moment, which Bezzecchi crashing out, while Marquez’s airbag deployed as he just held the lead from VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Jorge Martin overtook Di Giannantonio at Turn 2, then tried to pass Marquez for the lead at Turn 6, before losing out again into the next corner.

Speaking in parc ferme after winning the sprint, Marquez didn’t mention Bezzecchi once when asked about the collision.

“I mean, it was a strange sprint race, especially with the red flag,” he said.

“We hope and we wish that Pecco is OK, because it was a nasty crash.

“But apart from that, I was super concentrated; I defended in the best way possible.

“It’s true that on that Turn 1, when I had the impact, even my airbag deployed.

“For that reason, Jorge attacked me because it took some time to come back to the normal way.

“But apart from that, everything was fine, perfect. When I opened a gap, 0.5s, 0.8s, I tried to control the race. And it’s 12 very important points.”

MotoGP stewards’ decision angers Aprilia boss

The FIM MotoGP stewards investigated the collision, but deemed that no further action was warranted.

This drew a negative reaction from Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola in the team’s garage, while he was also seen sarcastically clapping Marquez during a replay of the crash.

The collision has dropped Bezzecchi 79 points behind Marquez now, with the Italian needing to get that gap to below 74 on Sunday to have any hope of keeping his title challenge alive.

Marquez can win the championship on Sunday if he wins and Jorge Martin doesn’t score.