Alex Marquez explains “really stupid” Thai MotoGP sighting lap crash
“It was not a mistake of losing the concentration”
Alex Marquez says his "really stupid" crash on the sighting lap at the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix was the result of exploring an alternate racing line in the wet.
The Gresini rider crashed at Turn 11 on the lap to the grid ahead of Sunday’s 26-lap grand prix at Buriram.
Marquez was able to start the race on his second bike, which had to be converted from a dry set-up to wet, but had to launch from last on the grid instead of ninth.
He managed to fight his way back up the pack on his GP23 to complete the top 10.
“Was a really stupid mistake,” Marquez told the media, including Crash.net, on Sunday.
“First of all, and I already said to the team, sorry because it was my mistake.
“I have to say it was not a mistake of losing the concentration or something.
“I mean, there was a line that I had already in my mind to try because in the warm-up I was cutting the kerb in Turn 11 all the laps and when I was going to the grid there was more water.
“So, I said ‘I will try with a little bit of gas, but not full, to go there and see how is the grip in that kerb’.
“But when I went in there it was like ice and when I realised I was on the ground.
“Later on everything was so complicated, I took the other bike that was dry and we again the full rain set-up.
“Starting from last, I did a normal race, the feeling was not brilliant. So, I just tried to finish the race and get my maximum.
“I was lucky to crash in that lap, because it was in my mind to try that line.
“So, I would have crashed in the warm-up lap or the first lap of the race when everybody is coming.
“So, I was lucky for that. We need to take this experience, I need to not put shit on myself. That mistake, a MotoGP rider cannot make.”
Marquez says even without the crash dropping him out of his original qualifying position he doesn’t believe he could have done more than eighth as his feeling in the wet on the GP23 is “not really good”.
“I think today starting from P9 and not from P23, our position was eighth, normal,” Marquez, who won the 2023 Silverstone sprint in wet conditions, added.
“With this ’23 bike, I don’t have a really good feeling. With the 2022 I was feeling super strong in the wet, and on the Honda also.
“But with this ’23 we are still missing something on the set-up.
“So, if we have an opportunity to ride in the wet we will adjust it. If not, we need to think something about that because I’m not feeling really good in the wet.”
