Alex Márquez on the Bezzecchi collision: “He misjudged it”

The MotoGP qualifying session at Phillip Island began with an unusual incident for Alex Márquez. As he braked into Turn 4, his Ducati collided with Marco Bezzecchi’s Aprilia. The fairing of the RS-GP was torn off in the process. Bezzecchi crashed at low speed and had to be freed from under his bike by marshals.

The incident caused the first of two interruptions. The race stewards investigated the incident but did not impose a penalty. Marquez, who had already signalled to the Italian on the track that he did not consider himself at fault, subsequently gave his account of events.

“I was riding my normal line and at my normal pace. I think he wanted to overtake me at that point. He was faster than me. But he misjudged the situation. That can happen; it’s fine by me,” explained the Gresini Ducati rider.

Alex Márquez despite a crash in Q2

Whilst Bezzecchi went on to set the fastest time, Marquez finished Friday in 6th place. Shortly before the end, the Spaniard himself crashed whilst braking for Turn 4. Given the high speeds on much of the circuit, he was at least able to find a silver lining in the relatively slow-speed crash.

“I chose the best possible spot to crash in Australia. It wasn’t a heavy crash. I was trying to keep improving. On the lap before, I’d already made a small mistake in Turn 10 whilst changing direction – also in a right-hand bend,” reported Marquez.

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His overall assessment of the practice day was nevertheless positive. By qualifying directly for Q2, he achieved an important goal before the forecast change in weather could alter the conditions.

“I felt comfortable on the bike and was riding at a good pace. But looking ahead to Saturday, it’s difficult to assess the situation. The conditions will change significantly. So everything could turn out differently. That’s why it was important to qualify directly for Q2,” emphasised the Spaniard.

Rain could turn the order on its head

In dry conditions, Aprilia had put in the strongest performance on Friday: four of the brand’s riders finished in the top five. Only Marc Marquez managed to squeeze in between them in third place. Alex Marquez left open the question of whether this balance of power would continue in the rain.

“If it’s wet on Saturday, everything changes,” noted the Ducati rider. When asked whether Aprilia would still have the advantage in such conditions, he replied: “I don’t know, but I hope that won’t be the case. I hope everything will be a bit more evenly balanced. It will then depend heavily on the rider’s feel.”