Marc Marquez has been ruled out of today’s inaugural race at Indonesia’s new Mandalika Bay circuit after crashing out during this morning’s warm-up session.
Following fourth fall of the weekend, the Spaniard was up on his feet but clearly shaken. He was subsequently taken to hospital by helicopter for further assessment – and ultimately declared unfit to take part in the grand prix just under an hour before the start.
“Following a heavy fall during this morning’s warm-up session, he [Marquez] was taken to local hospital in Lombok where he underwent a series of tests,” said MotoGP’s medical director Dr. Angel Charte.
“He then returned here, and while there was nothing major, following a period of observation of a couple of hours, the circuit doctors together with the team have deemed Marc Marquez unfit for the race.”
The Repsol Honda rider suffered a ferocious 180km/h (110mph) crash at Turn 7 during Sunday morning’s 20-minute warm-up session – a practice opportunity that a number of riders deemed crucially important as they tried to dial in final race setups following rain interruption throughout much of the weekend’s practice sessions.
Marquez’s crash came after a huge warning earlier in the session at Turn 10, when he had already almost gone down, and following three previous crashes at the new Indonesian circuit (including two during his efforts to make it out of Q1 yesterday), and marks the conclusion of a tough weekend for the Spaniard.
SHOCKING highside for @marcmarquez93! 😱
Incredibly Marc was able to walk away and hopefully he's all OK 🤞#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/uUwWxQJvHa
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 20, 2022
The cause of the crashes is no surprise to Marquez, though, who has been struggling all weekend to get any front end feeling from the combination of Honda’s radically new 2022 RC213V and Michelin’s reversion to a 2019 rear tyre construction in an attempt to cope with the incredibly high heats at the track, which have been creeping towards 70ºC.
With the new bike now very much focused on rear grip rather than the front, it has meant that Marquez and his fellow Honda riders are already struggling with front tyre confidence – and with the new harder rear managing to stress the front even more, he’s more on the limit than he has been for a long time.
“We are struggling a lot to ride in a good way,” he admitted on Saturday. “In qualifying I didn’t feel ready but I had no option but to try.
“In the test, we rode very well, but since we arrived back we’ve been struggling with the rear and then we push more with the front, and I can’t ride well with the front because I don’t feel good with it.”
