Alex Marquez’s pre-season MotoGP testing for 2021 could be done a day early, as a fifth fall in four days on track has left the LCR Honda rider with a break to his foot.
Marquez has had a rough start to his time in Qatar so far, crashing heavily on every day of the four days on track so far.
He’d left himself battered and beaten up from the very first day of testing after practically destroying a 2021 Honda RC213V, before crashing twice more on the following day.
Marquez followed that up with another crash yesterday as testing resumed, before a fifth crash today did more substantial damage. The team has now confirmed he suffered a “tiny 2mm fracture on on the fourth metacarpal of his right foot”, resulting in the circuit medical staff reportedly declaring him unfit to continue.
Speaking after Wednesday’s fall, Marquez told the media that he doesn’t believe he’s doing anything particularly wrong, but is simply riding close to the limit as he attempts to get back up to speed – and believes everyone else is in the same boat.
“It’s true that there has been some crashes for me and for [teammate] Taka,” he said last night, “but I think this is normal behavior for everyone. I’ve just been to the Clinica Mobile and Maverick [Vinales] said he had two crashes that he didn’t understand why. That’s the tendency of everyone here every year, that many people have crashes.
“It’s not the way to start the year, honestly, but I think it’ll be the same in the races, because so many days riding on the same track so close to the limit means it’s easy to make a mistake.
“Today was a small mistake for me, riding slower and trying something new, but it was my mistake. It’s so easy to make a small mistake on the limit.”
Marquez is not the only Honda rider to have been crashing, and isn’t even the first rider in the camp to face injury problems in Qatar, with test rider Stefan Bradl having missed much of Wednesday’s running after a crash left him with neck pain.
