Marco Bezzecchi on Marc Marquez Qatar MotoGP Sprint clash: “I tried to keep my line”
Marco Bezzecchi explains his Qatar MotoGP Sprint collision with Marc Marquez, which ended his victory hopes and further damaged his fading title hopes.
Polesitter and pre-race favourite Marco Bezzecchi saw his Qatar MotoGP Sprint victory hopes disappear in a shower of sparks when he fell after contact with Marc Marquez.
The pair clashed over the same piece of asphalt when Bezzecchi tried to take advantage of the race leader running slightly wide at Turn 1 on lap four of ten.
The impact caused Marquez's airbag to deploy, but the World Championship leader remained on board his Ducati while Bezzecchi slid off.
The incident also dealt a further blow to the Italian's fading title hopes.
“Not the sprint I wanted, of course, after a very good qualifying, a very good weekend,” Bezzecchi told TNT Sports.
“You saw already the images. At the end, I tried to keep my line, and the contact happened, so at the end I couldn't really do anything to avoid it.
“At the end, the one that crashed was me, but it’s like this. So we move forward, and we try to bounce back tomorrow.”
The FIM Stewards investigated the incident before ruling that no further action was necessary.
Bezzecchi had lost out to Marquez at the restart, having been ahead when the initial Sprint was red-flagged following Pecco Bagnaia's opening-lap accident.
“The first start before the red flag was good. In the second, unfortunately, I had a bit of a wheelie, I lost a bit of the acceleration and lost the place to Marc.
“Then we started a very good battle.
“My pace was good to try to fight for the win. I had to risk it, I had to do everything to try to make a good result. Unfortunately, it was not like this, so we will try again tomorrow.”
Marquez went on to win the race, with Bezzecchi's team-mate Jorge Martin losing second place to Fabio di Giannantonio on the final lap.
Bezzecchi is now 79 points behind Marquez and needs to close the gap sufficiently in Sunday's Grand Prix to remain in title contention, with a maximum of 74 points available at Portimao and Valencia.
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.
