Marc Marquez crashes and wipes out Johann Zarco in German MotoGP practice
The Repsol Honda fell while on a fast lap and his bike slid into Zarco, who was exiting the pits, and he was violently knocked over.
The Pramac Racing rider fortunately rose to his feet and walked away, seemingly without major harm, moments later.
Marc Márquez goes down, and collects Johann Zarco, whose bike splits in two
— MotoGP on BT Sport (@btsportmotogp) June 16, 2023
Both are up and walking about, but that'll be a red flag.#GermanGP pic.twitter.com/sa9wdW4Y0C
It was a horrible-looking collision which Zarco emerged from. He banged his head on the ground as he fell.
The session was red flagged with three minutes and seven seconds remaining.
Zarco, whose bike split into two piece due to the enormity of the smash, saw his session ended. Although Marquez did briefly go back out.
- This is what Zarco said to Marquez face-to-face after their massive crash
- Marc Marquez: Middle finger down to “adrenaline”| “Only Zarco could avoid clash”
Fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami earlier suffered a big crash at the Sachsenring. Joan Mir and Alex Rins are absent this weekend after injuries caused by crashes last weekend.
Marquez has failed to finish the past four grands prix that he has started, and has explained how the limitations of his Honda results in him taking extra risk.
The Guardian reminded him of Jorge Lorenzo's claim that he's the only rider who isn't scared of crashing, and Marquez replied: “I may be.
“He said it – and I also feel I’m never scared.
“Maybe sometimes I’m taking too much risk but I cannot ride a bike worrying about the crashing.
“It is the only way I know to ride a bike fast.
“I will say I have 20 [crashes] a year. Maybe 250 crashes [in total]?”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
