Marc Marquez crashes his Ducati for the first time in final hour of MotoGP test
Marc Marquez has crossed the inevitable hurdle of crashing his Ducati for the first time
Marc Marquez suffered his first crash on a Ducati in the last hour of 2024 MotoGP preseason testing.
Marquez fell at Turn 4, but emerged okay, with around 20 minutes remaining of the two-day Qatar test.
He was seen chatting away in the box with his crew chief Frankie Carchedi shortly afterwards.
Marquez was in P4 on the timesheet at the time of his crash, and he ended in the same position.
It is notable because Marquez is emerging from a 2023 where he broke an unwanted personal record for his most amount of crashes ever (29) in his last season with Honda.
Now switching to Ducati, there remains secrecy around Marquez’s true potential but he has crossed the inevitable hurdle of crashing for the first time.
He came within minutes of going through five days of preseason testing (three in Sepang, two in Qatar) without crashing his Ducati.
In Sepang he had to correct initial suspicions that he had fallen. He told reporters that he had, in fact, merely experienced a technical issue.
But, ahead of the season-opening race on March 8 in Qatar, Marquez has now properly experienced the feeling of falling off a Ducati.
The Gresini Racing rider will be confident that a first crash simply represents him edging closer to finding the limit of his new bike.
Earlier on Tuesday, Marquez suffered technical problems with his GP23.
Although his preseason concluded with a crash, the true story of his build-up to the 2024 MotoGP season will be rewritten depending upon how he fares at the first race next month.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
