Метка: Austrian GP

Marquez explains cause of disastrous start in Austria MotoGP race

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Gresini MotoGP rider Marc Marquez has explained why he was unsuccessful in engaging the ride-height device at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The six-time MotoGP world champion was very slow to pull away from third on the grid in Sunday’s race at Spielberg, causing him to get immediately swallowed up by a number of riders on the dash to the opening corner.

To make matters worse, he was hit by the Pramac Ducati of Franco Morbidelli under braking, forcing him wide on the asphalt run-off and dropping him down to 13th place.

It immediately became clear that the shocking start was down to the holeshot device not functioning as expected.

Marquez has revealed the problem stemmed back from a broken tyre valve on the starting grid, which forced Gresini mechanics to sprint to the Michelin garage to change the tyre rim.

While there were no delays for the 31-year-old, the tyre temperature dropped far below the levels he would have liked, and he was too distracted on the formation lap as he tried to put heat into the rubber.

 

Explaining what happened moments before the race started, Marquez said: “Today we were unlucky.

“Everything that could have happened to us, happened to us. Starting with a technical problem half an hour before the race.

“When the mechanics were about to mount the tyre, they checked the pressure and a valve had broken.

“They had to go quickly to Michelin, changing the tyre from one rim to another and losing temperature in the rubber.

“The main option was to change the tyre if they didn’t have time, but they had time and we preferred to go out with the tyre even though it wasn’t at the right temperature.

“On the grid they told me to watch out on the warm-up lap, to get the tyre up to temperature. I was more focused on that than on what we have to do now and I didn’t hook up the starting device properly.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“On the last straight I brake and I engage the front device well but then I braked again and [it] disengaged.

“Then I didn’t have enough speed. Without the front device it was difficult to start well.”

MotoGP is set to ban electronic aids from 2027 as part of its regulation overhaul, which will also see a move to 850cc engines.

However, Marquez doesn’t think there is a reason to outlaw ride-height devices any sooner on safety grounds just because he committed an error in Austria.

“We will have a ban but in ’27, so of course they already did a solution,” he said. “But for now to ’27, as KTM showed this weekend [with Pol Espargaro’s test bike], we will see many [new] things.

“But the front height device is for everybody, and today it was like this and it was my mistake. We cannot ban a device because I did a mistake, in the past others riders did [as we].”

He added: “Now we have many things on the bike. Some riders explain when they arrive for Moto2 they have many things to do.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Today, I put more attention on putting the tyre temperature and I was less concentrated on the front device. I engage and thinking about the front tyre, I disengage again, lowering the pressure to increase the temperature.”

Marquez’s early race troubles were particularly frustrating as he had looked much closer to championship contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin at Spielberg than in the previous few races.

After Saturday’s sprint, he felt he was only half a step behind the leading duo, despite crashing out of second place with five laps to go.

“In Catalunya, we finished second [in sprint] and third [in grand prix] but it was one of the worst weekends for us,” he said. “This weekend was one of the best, the feeling with the bike, the speed in practice, in warm-up, in qualifying practice, but zero points yesterday and fourth place today.

“But the real speed is there, I enjoyed a lot this weekend.”

Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova



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Bagnaia beats Martin to win, reclaims points lead

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Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia outduelled MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin to take a convincing victory in the Austrian Grand Prix and retake the top spot in the championship standings.

Bagnaia again made the best start from the front row of the grid but couldn’t pass polesitter Martin, who did just enough to hold the lead into the opening right-hander and the tricky Turn 2 chicane.

However, with the race lead so important at Spielberg to maintain tyre pressures, Bagnaia made another attempt at Turn 1 at the start of the second lap and got the move done on brakes to drop Martin to second.

The Pramac rider tried to retaliate into Turn 9 on the same lap but ran too deep into the corner, allowing Bagnaia to stay in front.

For almost the first half the race, the two riders circulated within just a few tenths of each other, with Bagnaia successfully responding every time Martin picked up the pace.

But on lap 14 of 28, Martin started to run out of steam, the Spaniard’s lap times dropping in the 1m30s bracket. Bagnaia, meanwhile, was still able to maintain his early-race speed, allowing him to pull out an advantage of over a second.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With the late threat of rain never materialising, Bagnaia was able to cruise to the finish and claim his seventh win of the season, taking a five-point lead in the championship in the process.

Martin had no answer to Bagnaia’s pace in the final laps of the race and had to settle for second, 2.2s adrift of his title rival.

A rapid getaway propelled Enea Bastianini to third on the opening lap, but the factory Ducati rider lacked his usual late-race pace, ending up 7s behind race winner and team-mate Bagnaia.

Marc Marquez was able to recover to fourth on the Gresini Ducati after make a shocking start from third on the grid, likely due to a disengaged front holeshot device.

Tumbling down the order long before the braking zone, Marquez hit the Pramac Ducati of Franco Morbidelli before overshooting Turn 1, rejoining the track down in 13th place.

However, the six-time champion was able to lap consistently in the 1m29s bracket throughout the race, surging back to fourth by lap 18, where he would finish in the end.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Brad Binder scored a solid fifth place on KTM’s home turf after an impressive charge from 12th on the grid, but the RC16 lacked the pace to put up any fight against the Ducatis.

Sixth place went to Marco Bezzecchi on the VR46 Ducati, while Maverick Vinales successfully repassed team-mate Aleix Espargaro at Turn 9 on lap 19 to finish as the top Aprilia in seventh. Espargaro was later demoted to ninth by Morbidelli, who also ran wide at the start after coming together with Marquez.

The top 10 was completed by Alex Marquez on the other Gresini Ducati, while KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro took 11th ahead of and Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira.

Having missed Q2 for the first time in his MotoGP career on Saturday, Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta had a tough race en route to 13th place, as he lacked the pace to contend for a spot inside the top 10.

The list of points scorers was completed by LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez.

Yamaha failed to score points in Austria, with the marque’s lead rider Fabio Quartararo picking up a long penalty for exceeding track limits and ended up 18th, two spots behind team-mate Alex Rins.

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) and Luca Marini (Honda) were the only two riders to retire from the race, while Jack Miller crashed on lap 11 while running in sixth but was able to remount on his KTM to take 19th.

MotoGP Austrian GP – Race results



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Martin has «improved in every aspect» but Bagnaia has «no weak points»

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MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has weighed in on the title battle between his protege Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac rival Jorge Martin in 2024.

With no clashing commitments to his GT racing programme with BMW, seven-time champion Rossi is attending this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg and has already spent a considerable amount of time trackside in his role as the owner of the VR46 team.

The Italian has also been taking a close look at the performances of Bagnaia and Martin, who have once again proved to be a class apart from the rest. The two qualified half a second clear of the field and also locked out the top spots in Saturday’s sprint, making them the prime contenders for victory on Sunday.

Rossi knows Bagnaia very well through the latter’s time at VR46 in Moto2 and has supported his career in MotoGP ever since, while Martin has also come under his radar following his impressive title challenge in 2023.

The 45-year-old praised Pramac rider Martin for raising his game and improving his craft in every area, but thinks beating Bagnaia will be tough as he has no “weak points” remaining in MotoGP.

«Martin is there, he always manages to have that little bit more, he is very calm, he rides well and is incredibly fast,» he told Italian broadcaster Sky Sport. «He has improved a lot in all aspects [but] at the moment Bagnaia does not have a weak point.

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«He’s got the [one] lap [speed], he always gets the start and that’s a very important thing. It’s something that champions like [Max] Verstappen do [in Formula 1]. Always starting well is not easy, every now and then you happen to make a mistake, but he is always there. Then he’s incredibly fast.

«Lately, under pressure he is giving his best. This is Bagnaia’s strength for me: he is aggressive, but he is not dirty. He is clean, but he is not sweet. It’s the right mix of wickedness, aggressiveness. He rides the Ducati with oversteer under braking, but also the mileage [on tyres] and not making mistakes. Now it’s hard to beat [him] but I’m there with Martin.»

The title battle has swung between the two Ducati riders a number of times in the first half of the season, with Martin opening up a big lead after Le Mans and Bagnaia reversing that advantage with four successive grand prix wins.

Martin was on the back foot heading into the summer break in July, but showed great resolve at the last round in Britain to take back control of the championship. Bagnaia’s win in the Austria sprint, however, has now put both riders level at the top of the championship.

Rossi thinks it is very likely that the fight between Bagnaia and Martin will go down the wire at Valencia in November, with little to separate the pair.

«After so many races they are still tied on points, so there is a good chance that they will make it to the end,» he said. «Then it depends a lot on the dynamics. We come from a moment when Bagnaia had recovered a lot of points, because he was already 44 points behind. He took it back and now he is there.

«In any case, it will be a good fight, because Martin is a very fast rider, he also makes few mistakes, he starts well and these are the important things in today’s MotoGP, so it will be a good fight until the end.»

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

He added: «Before the break, Pecco was in a better condition, because he caught up with him and had also passed him. But Martin, despite the fact that next year he will no longer be in Ducati and will have to change teams, when he returned from vacation he was immediately there and managed to get back in front.

«At this moment, it is a draw. Even from the outside the two of them are always the ones who go a little more, you can also see that they have a few tenths in the most important points of the track.»

Saturday’s sprint race at Spielberg was effectively decided when Martin ran wide at the Turn 2 chicane and took the escape road, but didn’t slow down enough after rejoining the track and picked up a long lap penalty.

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Rossi believes the best solution for the track limits problem is to have grass run-off areas at most places, as they act as a natural deterrent against riders running wide.

«Martin made a mistake in braking and went off the track, so there should be grass there in theory,» he said.

“Now there is concrete on the slopes, but in my opinion it is also right that those who make a mistake should pay. It is unfair that he cuts the chicane because there is concrete and re-attaches to the one [rider] in front.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“There he should have waited a little longer, let [Marc] Marquez pass and then get back in the race. When he makes a mistake, he is equal to Pecco, then he comes back at a tenth and a half [gap], but I understand that a second is difficult to calculate.

«Concrete off the track is safer, because if there is grass you fall, and safety is the most important thing. But sometimes it also distorts the races a bit, because if you know that there is asphalt there you try anyway, knowing that at worst you can cut.

«That’s how it is, but when you go off the track it’s right that you pay.»



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Martin’s long lap penalty in Austrian MotoGP sprint ‘not necessary’

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Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia thinks the long lap penalty his MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin received for going off track and cutting a chicane in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint was ‘not necessary’.

Bagnaia and Martin were engaged in a tough duel on the second lap at Spielberg when the Pramac rider couldn’t stop his bike in time and had to go straight at the Turn 2 chicane, where an escape road is carefully laid out to allow riders to rejoin the track.

Although Martin did back off and give way to Bagnaia when he rejoined, he failed to slow down by a second as required by the regulations, and was penalised with a long lap penalty.

As a result, the Spaniard lost his chance of battling for the win and finished the race almost five seconds off the lead, while Bagnaia romped to his third sprint win of 2024 to draw level with him in the championship standings. 

Martin has since called for a review of the long lap penalty rule.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Speaking afterwards, the two-time MotoGP champion Bagnaia felt the stewards did play by the rules while issuing the penalty, but also emphasised that Martin had already lost time by going off track.

“Jorge made a mistake that cost him everything,” he said. “[But] by cutting the way he did he already lost time, so I don’t think the penalty was necessary.

“But that’s the way the rules are, and you have to follow them.”

Bagnaia revealed that he had tactfully braked aggressively into the right-left sequence that is only part of the Red Bull Ring’s MotoGP layout, knowing that Martin would run wide in an attempt to stay ahead of him.

TV images showed the rear wheel of the Pramac Ducati going up in the air in a half-stoppie as the Spaniard desperately tried to get the bike stopped in his failed attempt to make the corner.

“He exited well from corner 1, I exited super good [as well],” he explained. “So I just decided to go on the outside and then I said, ‘now I will brake like a qualifying. If he want to brake like me, he will go wide, absolutely, for sure’. He did it and he was wide.

“For sure when you cut the chicane you are already losing time but the rules are rules, you have to give back one second and he didn’t.

“From that moment I just decided to understand everything about the race perfectly. I just decided to go more smooth as possible to prepare the race for tomorrow.

«We have already scored three victories in the sprint and that is very important, because Martin is surely faster than me in that aspect.”

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Marquez «too optimistic» as Austria MotoGP sprint crash costs “easy podium”

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Marc Marquez has admitted he gave away an “easy podium” by being “too optimistic” and crashing out of the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix sprint race.

Gresini rider Marquez was running second behind race leader Francesco Bagnaia on lap 10 of 14 when he tucked the front heading into the uphill Turn 3, barely hanging on to his Ducati as he hit the deck.

Although the six-time champion was able to get the bike running again, he was forced to pull into the pits at the end of the lap to retire from the race, losing nine crucial points in his fight with the factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini for third in the standings.

While it was the third time he had suffered a crash in the sprint race in the last four race weekends, the Spielberg fall was different as he had the pace to run close to the faster GP24s of title contenders Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

Asked to explain what caused the crash, the Spaniard said: “[What] happened that I was too optimistic.

“Honestly it was an easy podium. I was riding super good. In the first part of the race, I said ‘okay I will be calm’.

“They [Bagnaia and Martin] have a half step more than me. Yesterday, [it] was one, today half.

“And [in] the last laps I felt something. I feel like ‘okay, time to attack’. When five laps remained and I did attack, I recovered something because I was riding super smooth.

“Then I tried to attack a bit more, but I was too optimistic on Turn 3. That lap already I did my fastest T1 of the race and I pushed too much. But [I pushed too much] because it was a long time that I didn’t feel that I was able to fight for the victory [and now I could].

“Of course, I think Pecco had something more but at least we were close to him.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez revealed that he had locked the tyres going into the right-hander, prompting him to release the brakes in an attempt to slow down his bike.

However, the bike actually picked up pace because his tyres had locked up, leaving him on the ground.

“It’s quite difficult to understand the limit of the track, especially when you are riding behind the others, because in the morning with the cooler temperatures, 15 degrees less on the race track, the riding style is completely different.

“Today in the race I was locking the front a lot and it was much more difficult.

“In fact, before the crash I had a lock on the brakes and I released the brakes a bit and then when I pulled again, that’s when I crashed because of the speed. When you have a lock, the speed increases.”

Marquez took a conservative approach in the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago after having a similar late crash in the sprint race.

However, the 31-year-old doesn’t think he needs to take it easy this time around, and believes a fifth grand prix podium of the year could be on the cards on Sunday.

“The crash of Silverstone makes me feel much worse than today,” he said. “Today I feel like I don’t like to crash but at least I was there [on the pace]. I was fighting for that top positions.

“But it’s true that tomorrow if we are smart we can have that third place in a good mode. But then let’s see during the race when you put the hammer, you don’t know.”

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Martin calls for review of MotoGP long lap penalty rule after Austria sprint

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Pramac rider Jorge Martin has called for a rethink of MotoGP’s long lap rule after being hit with a penalty for cutting the chicane in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint.

Polesitter Martin was leading the half-distance race at Spielberg on Saturday when he overshot the tricky Turn 2 and had to take to the escape road, before rejoining the track in second position behind the factory Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia.

While he did slow down and lose a position because of the error, the data showed that he didn’t drop a second in the same sector as required by the rules, prompting the stewards to issue him a long lap penalty.

The 26-year-old had been running just a few tenths behind Bagnaia when he finally took the loop at the exit of Turn 4, but it left him down in third place, almost four seconds down on his title rival.

A crash for Gresini’s Marc Marquez elevated him to second position, but he had no chance of recovering the lost ground and mounting an attack on Bagnaia, who cruised to his third sprint win of the year to draw level with him at the top of the championship standings.

Speaking afterwards, Martin felt that it is “unfair” for riders to be penalised for running wide in such a manner, when they have already lost time by going off track.

“Surely, the rule should be revised,” he told Spanish broadcaster Dazn. “It would have been a more fun and spectacular race.

“I think I could have fought with Pecco, I was waiting a few laps to go in with the pressure rule.

“In the end there are a lot of things to think about at the same time. And when I wanted to attack, I went straight and they sent me to the long lap.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Having lost time [by going off track], I don’t think it’s fair [to get a penalty for it]. If you’ve already lost time, I don’t know the need [for the penalty].

“It’s not that I’m going straight because I want to, it’s that I’m going straight because I’m on the limit in a fight. In this circumstance, then maybe losing time….

“Maybe [the best thing] is to let the race go and at least enjoy a good fight.”

Martin and Bagnaia had already traded positions a number of times on the opening lap, but their duel effectively ended when the Spaniard carried too much speed on the run down to Turn 2 and was forced to go straight.

The stewards officially handed him the sanction on lap five, which he duly served on lap eight — returning to the track just ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Martin claimed that he would have just carried on as normal and not purposely dropped behind Bagnaia if he knew a penalty was coming.

“Fair or not fair, in the end it is what it is,” he said. “Today was a day with complications. I gave my best in this situation.

“In the end, I went a bit long [at Turn 2] because I didn’t have much space with Pecco either, and I even let him pass.

“I didn’t do the ‘shortcut’ fast, I just lost the position to Pecco. Even so, there was a long lap penalty.

“If I had known, I would have stayed first and waited for the penalty. But that’s the way it was.”

Bagnaia has a strong track record at the Red Bull Ring, having won two of the last editions of the Austrian GP in 2022-23.

Martin did gain the upper hand over him in qualifying by beating him to pole position, but it was Bagnaia that emerged ahead in the half-points sprint race.

Having concluded that he is closer to Bagnaia than many had expected, he believes he has the speed to challenge the two-time champion in the grand prix on Sunday.

“I think I saved the race, being second with these complications was good,” he said.

“The Long Lap was very close to the limit. There was a moment when I thought I was going to go out and that I would even get another one. But I was able to save it.

“Another second place, which realistically would have been third.

“But I think that without the Long Lap I have the potential to fight with Pecco tomorrow.”

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Martin smashes lap record and beats Bagnaia to crucial pole

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Jorge Martin obliterated the Spielberg lap record to take pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, beating pre-qualifying favourite Francesco Bagnaia.

Nursing a cut on his left thumb after a bizarre mishap in the shower on Saturday night, championship leader Martin pulled off a stunning 1m27.748s effort in the 15-minute pole shootout to deny the top spot to last year’s double Red Bull Ring winner Bagnaia.

Martin’s closest title rival Bagnaia was on the pace right away in qualifying, posting a time of 1m28.605s on his first flyer before lowering his own benchmark from Friday with a stellar 1m.28.142s lap on the GP24.

That put him a tenth of a second clear of championship leader and Martin after the first runs, with Marc Marquez almost a quarter of second adrift in third on the year-old Ducati.

However, the tide shifted between the two when the field returned on track for their second runs in the final six minutes of the session, aided by Bagnaia losing a lap after running wide at Turn 1.

Martin had no trouble whatsoever and became the first-ever rider to breach the 1m28s barrier on a MotoGP bike at the circuit, with Bagnaia unable to match him on his one and only flying lap on his second run.

That put the Spaniard on pole position by 0.141s, while six-time champion Marquez carried the pace he showed in Friday practice to clinch a solid third on the Gresini Ducati.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez dropped Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro outside the front row with his late effort of 1m28.292s, as the latter’s team-mate Maverick Vinales qualified sixth in a strong showing from the Noale factory.

Separating the two Aprilia riders in fifth was Jack Miller on the top KTM, the Australian landing a spot on the second row with a 1m28.546s after coming through Q1.

British Grand Prix winner Enea Bastianini had a relatively low-key session en route to seventh on the factory Ducati, just beating the similar GP24 bike of Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli.

Marco Bezzecchi qualified ninth on the VR46, while KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro crashed on a lap that seemed good enough for a top-five, dropping to 10th on the grid.

Alex Marquez was 11th for Gresini, while 2021 winner Brad Binder struggled to 12th on the factory KTM, more than a second off the pace of polesitter Martin.

Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira set an identical time to Pol Espargaro in Q1, but was knocked out of the session as his second-quickest lap was slower than the Spaniard, leaving him 13th on the grid.

Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta failed to get through to Q2 for the first time in his brief MotoGP career and will line up 14th on the grid, as the top four riders in the first part of qualifying were split by less than a tenth of a second.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo qualified 15th ahead of the second GasGas-branded RC16 of Augusto Fernandez, while Honda’s upgraded engine was only good enough to put Johann Zarco 17th on the grid on the fastest of the RC213Vs.

MotoGP Austrian GP: Qualifying results

 



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Acosta explains scary high-speed crash in Austria MotoGP practice

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Pedro Acosta has denied that his high-speed shunt in first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix was due to damage to his KTM, explaining that unusually cold tyres were the real cause.

Acosta lost control of his bike going into the Turn 4 right-hander in the final stages of the session at Spielberg, crashing for the second time in a span of 10 minutes.

His GasGas-branded RC16 smashed the barriers and came to a rest on the gravel trap on the other side of the track, while such were the forces involved that Spaniard himself was sent sliding off to the grass before coming to a stop on the tarmac at the apex of the turn.

Initial observations of the incident had suggested that a previous off at the Turn 2 chicane could have been responsible for his crash, raising questions as to why he was allowed to rejoin with some cosmetic damage to his bike.

 

However, the 20-year-old has revealed that he wasn’t able to get enough temperature into his tyres, which caused him to lose the front of the bike under braking.

“Let’s start with the first crash. I crashed because the tyre was a little bit cold because I released [the gas] a bit to [let through] Pol [Espargaro], who was behind me,” Acosta explained. “[The tyre] was a little bit fresh on the left side because we don’t have many corners.

“[After that], I see three minutes in the dash and I said ‘okay, we go, I make two laps’. My idea was I need to warm up again the tyre. But I was not expecting the same temperature of the tyre.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“It was not a thing I crashed because the fairing was broken. It was not a thing that the brake becomes blocked.

“At the moment I touched the brakes it [the tyre] was really cold. In my mind it was 30 or 35c colder than how we ride. At the moment I touched the brakes I locked the front for this.”

Acosta revealed that he suffered an unusual problem with his Michelins, as there was a notable difference between the temperature recorded by sensors located inside the tyre and the surface of the rubber.

The Red Bull Ring is the first of the three tracks on the calendar where Michelin has brought a different tyre casing compared to its standard specification.

“The inside of the tyre was hot, but the outside, the surface was cold — more on the left than the right,” he explained.

“What I was not expecting was the centre to be cold like that because when you are riding in the straight you are already warming the centre.

“The problem that happened today was quite abnormal. It’s not normal that the inside is hot and the outside is cold. Also the [ambient] temp was going a little bit down.”

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 crash

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Asked what was on his mind during the crash, he said: “Here we go!

“When you are in this situation…thankfully it was a good one, because the moment I touched the floor, the bikes goes [away] fast and I was behind.

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“It’s true that I stand to bear quite the impact and how all these sparks were coming from me. At the end this is racing, this is life.

He added: “Everything in life is danger. Maybe you cross the street one day and one bus [hits you].”



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Marquez no longer lagging far behind Bagnaia, Martin in MotoGP

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Gresini’s Marc Marquez says he is no longer two or three steps behind MotoGP title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin after displaying strong pace in Friday practice for the Austrian GP.

On the short 10-corner Spielberg circuit, Marquez posted a time of 1m28.858s on his Ducati GP23 bike in second practice to finish fourth-fastest, trailing pacesetter Bagnaia by just 0.350s.

More impressively, he lapped within half a tenth of Pramac duo Franco Morbidelli and Martin, who were second and third respectively at the end of the hour-long session.

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It was a massive departure from the form he has shown in recent rounds, where he started on the back foot on Friday before gradually finding more pace to be competitive on race day.

Having finally managed to be on the pace immediately at the start of the race weekend, as he had prioritised after the British Grand Prix, Marquez feels he has now significantly closed the gap to MotoGP’s frontrunners in Austria.

“I was struggling a lot on the race pace and did mistakes [in FP1], because we had a similar problem to Austin with the brakes, but then the team with experience of Austin did a step in the afternoon and the feeling was much better,” he explained.

“Also, they gave me some tips on the riding style and then I was able to attack and that makes me a bit more constant on the race pace.

“I felt good. The feeling with the bike was much better than the last races. In fact, in the last races I felt we were two, even three steps behind the top guys and in this race at the moment we are one step behind the top guys. So this is already a good sign.”

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Despite scoring four grands prix podiums so far in 2024, including three in a row between Jerez and Barcelona, Marquez has yet to stand on the top step of the podium with Ducati.

While admitting that this was one of the best Fridays he has enjoyed so far, the six-time champion still feels he is not in the same group as Bagnaia and Martin at Spielberg.

Asked if he believes he has a shot at winning the Austrian GP, a race he never won during his time at Honda, the Spaniard said: “No. I will like to say yes but unfortunately [not].

“It’s true that we are closer and I feel like one step behind Bagnaia and Martin, who are the top guys.

“Then we are the second group with Morbidelli, Bastianini and me. So let’s see if tomorrow I can work with the small details and be a bit more constant.”

While Ducati has generally gone around well in Austria, with seven of its eight runners finishing inside the top 10, Marquez also believes tyres are playing a role in his improved form at the circuit.

Spielberg is one of the three tracks where Michelin is bringing a different profile of tyres, providing relief to those riders that haven’t fully gelled with its standard 2024 rubber.

“For me with this tyre, I feel more natural,” he said. “With the new rear tyre they brought this year [for the majority of the season but not Spielberg], the new technology, I don’t feel it in a natural way from the edge to the traction.

“I feel like [it’s] changing a lot the grip between one and [the other tyre type], it’s like two different tyres. But with this one it’s much more natural, and for me the movement of the bike is more predictable.”

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