Marc Marquez suffers fifth fall in warm-up, 'small fracture in finger'
Marquez was diagnosed with a 'very small fracture in the first finger of his left hand'. He was declared fit to ride in the German MotoGP race but later withdrew anyway.
The Repsol Honda rider, who was hoping to find more rear grip after a set-up change backfired for the Sprint race, instead lost the rear again and suffered a painful highside at the apex of Turn 7.
Unlike some of Saturday's qualifying falls, from which he ran straight back to the pits, Marquez was slow to get to his feet and limped away from the gravel trap before sitting on the service road and later leaning over a guard rail.
The Spaniard, whose 11-race unbeaten Sachsenring run was shattered with eleventh place yesterday, eventually gave a thumbs up before undergoing medical checks.
Thumbs up!
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 18, 2023
Glad to see @marcmarquez93 is back on his feet and relatively okay! #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/UIjGtK60Nq
After giving his bike the middle finger when the rear let go into the ultra-fast Turn 11 on Friday afternoon, Marquez suffered his first fall of the weekend when he lost the front into Turn 1, his sliding machine then wiping out Johann Zarco.
Saturday saw the eight-time world champion fall three times in the pair of 15-minute qualifying sessions, leaving him seventh on the grid. Further scares early in the Sprint race prompted Marquez to settle for reaching the finish, and he dropped from fifth to eleventh.
Marquez hoped that a return to his normal set-up would see an improvement on Sunday.
Two of Honda's MotoGP riders, Joan Mir and Alex Rins, are missing from Germany due to injuries. LCR's Takaaki Nakagami then hurt his hand in a Friday accident and finished 17th in the Sprint.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
