Marquez accepts Martin COTA MotoGP clash as “a closed thing”

Pramac Ducati’s Martin ran wide at Turn 2 on the opening lap and tried to recover ground into Turn 3 when he lost the front-end and wiped out Marquez.

Marquez was taken to the medical centre for checks on his knee after he got stuck between both stricken Ducatis and hit the wall, but was cleared of any serious injury.

Though conceding he is “angry” at the missed opportunity brought about by the crash, he accepted Martin’s apology and feels the tangle was nothing more than a racing incident.

“[I hurt my] knee, because my leg was between both bikes and it was difficult,” said Marquez, who also crashed out of the sprint race in America because he vomited in his helmet.

“I stayed until the wall, and I touched the wall also. It was not an easy crash, but I’m angry because we lost many points.

“It was a good opportunity, but it’s a little bit strange to have the best performance of the season here and get zero points, and in Portimao and Argentina we were not really good and got many points.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, returns to the paddock after his crash with Alex Marquez

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“He [Martin] did, for me, a clear mistake that I saw. He had contact or something happened in Turn 2, he was already on the outside and he tried to recover what he lost in Turn 3.

“All the riders know this is so tricky, but he was coming from the dirty side, putting on a lot of lean angle and he touched the brakes.

“It’s physics. If you touch the brakes at that angle you will crash, especially on the first lap when the front tyre is not in the right moment.

“But it’s something that can happen to me tomorrow, that happened in the past and will happen in the future. For me, it’s clear what happened, I accept his apology and it’s a closed thing.”

Martin escaped punishment for this “strange crash” and says “it’s difficult to say what happened”.