Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez has launched an attack on the venerable Japanese manufacturer today, having blamed what he says was a problem with his bike’s electronics for a monster highside that means he will go into qualifying for the Dutch TT battered and bruised.
The Spaniard, who returned to winning ways last weekend at the Sachsenring, was lucky to limp away with only contusions to his knee and arm after the fast crash at the TT Circuit Assen’s Turn 11 – but was quick to pin the blame for it onto issues with how the team has set up the control MotoGP electronics package supplied to all teams.
Massive highside for @marcmarquez93! 😱
Thankfully the Spaniard is walking away! 💢#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/3RA7WNeCzn
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 25, 2021
“First of all, I’m lucky to escape from that crash in a good way,” Marquez admitted. “I feel better than I expected to in Assen, and in FP1 I was riding in easy mode. In FP2, I went out and said that it was time to take a step.
“I was riding well, and it’s true that I was pushing in some parts of the circuit but at that moment in that corner I wasn’t riding over the limit because there was another rider in front of me [Joan Mir] and I was doing the same as them or even slower.
“I’m pushing a lot to HRC because we cannot have these kinds of crashes. It’s true that in that kind of corner we’re against the electronics, but the electronics are there to avoid these kinds of crashes. Only Honda riders have these kinds of highsides.
“We have to understand it. I already understand it a bit because the first thing I did was check on the data to see if I did something wrong, but I was riding exactly the same as on the previous lap, except it didn’t save the slide.
“There’s something there where we have to understand it for the future – and the future doesn’t mean next year, it means this year.
“We need something to be more safe, because otherwise it’s impossible to get the confidence and be safe again.”
It’s a feeling that team-mate Pol Espargaro agreed with, seconding the opinion from the other side of the garage after the day’s action. A victim of similar highsides already this year, he says that while Honda continues to hunt for rear grip, it needs to find it not only to go faster but to be safer too.
“It’s true statistically that we, the Honda guys, are crashing more than the others,” he said when asked about Marquez’s observations by The Race. “It’s clear, and for sure our complaints are about the rear grip on the edge of the tyre, when you take the first initial throttle.
“I had a crash similar to his one in Portimao [pictured below], and we’re asking for grip because when it’s not there it’s not just to be fast, sometimes it’s about safety as well.
A horrible highside for @polespargaro! 💥
The @HRC_MotoGP rider is flicked over the top at the final turn! 😮#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/LzomX1uiVt
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 17, 2021
“We’re working to get better grip on acceleration which will help us to be safer. If you look at Ducati, they don’t have many crashes like this one, so it means they have good grip on the rear.
“The grip affects both areas, on the entry and on the exit. Sometimes it’s like with Marc on the exit, on the edge, and it’s difficult to control sometimes. But if it’s on the entry, it’s even harder to control. It is something that is hard to get used to, and it is the most critical and dangerous part of MotoGP.”
The good news for six-time MotoGP champion Marquez is that he’s managed to walk away from the biggest crash of the past year completely unscathed, despite the punishing nature of the fast highside.
Suffering the biggest impact since the fall that badly broke his right arm 12 months ago at Jerez, he was left stiff and sore afterwards – but says he doesn’t believe that it’ll slow him down for the remainder of the weekend.
“Of course after the crash I feel like I’ve had a big crash,” Marquez admitted. “I have some pain in the knee, some pain in the foot, some pain in the elbow, but everything is OK to continue with the same performance for the rest of the weekend.”
