Marc Marquez falls to 20th, commits to new chassis, traction control fix

It was a walking-wounded Marc Marquez that returned to Assen on Saturday, following his huge highside in Friday's MotoGP free practice.

The eight-time world champion, who broke Honda's longest premier-class losing streak since 1982 at Sachsenring last weekend, had laid the blame for the accident firmly on a glitch in his RC213V's traction control system.

"Only Honda riders have these kinds of highsides. In Portimao Alex and Pol. Here me. It was a similar crash in 2020 in Jerez. We must understand," Marquez said on Friday.

The Spaniard called for urgent action from HRC for both safety and performance reasons: "These crashes take a lot of confidence from you because you don’t know when you will crash again. If we want to ride on the limit we can’t have these kind of crashes."

Fortunately for the #93 he didn't have to wait long for a response, with Honda providing a new traction control 'solution' on Saturday.

"Honda is working in a good way. This is the thing that I want to see. This weekend they brought a new chassis and it’s working a little bit better. Yesterday I complained about the TC and today I received a new solution for the TC, which was working much better and was more safe," Marquez said.

"So this is Honda and what I need from the team. They’re working really hard and I’m happy for that."

Nonetheless, the physical toll from Friday meant Marquez, who continues to recover from last year's arm fracture complications, dropped to 15th on the timesheets in FP3 and had to take part in Qualifying 1.

"It’s true that the crash from yesterday affected today a lot," Marquez said.

"I started this morning and the first thing was, will it be possible to ride the bike? I had a lot of pain in the right foot and I was not able to push. With the right arm I’m not able to push a lot. In the morning it was very difficult.

"In the afternoon I felt better. In the first qualifying run I did the lap time alone. Then in the second run I had the chance to follow Zarco."

Marquez's qualifying ended in another fall, this time at Turn 5, but he made clear it was not a repeat of Fridays' traction control issue.

"The crash from today is a normal crash. It’s a qualifying and you push more on the brakes, lose the front, but I understand the crash. I was disappointed because I know this will penalise (me) a lot for the race tomorrow because I will start at the back.

"We will start tomorrow from 20th place but the potential of the bike was in the front two rows. But today was not possible because of different circumstances."

Marquez explained that, having compared the new Honda chassis alongside his existing (older) version on Friday, he decided to commit fully to the new frame.

"Today we worked all day with the new chassis. The plan first of all was try to compare again, but I said to the team, 'honestly speaking, I’m not ready to compare chassis'. I’m not riding like I want, I’m just sat on the bike and following the lines. I cannot push and force the chassis like I want.

"So I said to the team 'which one would you prefer I ride?' They said 'the new one to take information'. So today I rode with the new one and tomorrow I’ll race with the new one, also because I feel a good potential. In some parts of the circuit, the feeling is better. "

LCR's Takaaki Nakagami was the leading Honda in fifth place, with Marquez's team-mate Pol Espargaro a bitterly disappointed eleventh.

"The problem is I used the 'S' front tyre. It was a mistake. In qualifying the track is more grippy, so the soft becomes softer. The 'M' tyre was the one to choose, as Taka did," said Espargaro, who was second fastest in Friday practice.

"I f**ked up twice because I didn’t change it in the second bike. We had the rhythm to be fighting for something great tomorrow, but now we’re in eleventh, in the same trouble as always. I’m super pissed off."

The other Honda of Alex Marquez will start from 16th.