Marquez not cleared to finish Qatar test, will "push" doctor
Alex Marquez says he has not been cleared to complete the Qatar MotoGP test on Friday after fracturing his foot, but will push the circuit doctor to pass him fit.
The LCR Honda rider registered his fifth crash in four days of testing on Thursday when he highsided going through the Turn 9 right-hander.
The crash brought out a brief red flag and Marquez was subsequently diagnosed with a 2mm fracture on his right foot, which sidelined him for the rest of the day. Marquez says he has raced with a similar injury before and hopes to be cleared to ride tomorrow, but will only push for it if weather conditions don’t cause unnecessary risk.
Explaining his crash after ending the day 17th, he said: “Well, I was trying some important things again during the first part of the session because that part of the day is not for making laps because conditions are so different, and we will not have those conditions during any practice in the [race] weekend.
“I was focused on many things, and then I put in new tyres to make a time attack because it’s something I needed to improve. Making the time attack, I crashed. [It] was a highside in Turn 9, fortunately I’m OK. I have a small crack in my right foot.
“At the moment I’ve [been declared] not fit from the doctor, but tomorrow if we have a good weather and good conditions I will try to push the doctor to [pass me] fit because I feel good, I already race with this broken. So, I think it will not be a problem to be on the bike. But it’s a special doctor here in Qatar.”
There have been a number of crashes throughout the season, and though Marquez doesn’t feel this is out of the norm for a test, he did express some concern about the lack of feedback from the harder front tyre compounds.
“About crashes, I think everybody crashes,” he added. “Also yesterday I was with [Maverick] Vinales in the Clinica, he told me he crashed two times in the straight line with the front tyre.
“It’s a little bit difficult to understand the hard front tyre, but also the medium with the right side a little bit harder. [You get] no info and you lose the front so easy. So already today in the first [hours], I tried the hard and the medium one, and maybe the medium was a little bit better from the front tyre and it’s so easy to crash.
“[It] will be a little bit risky for the GP because we will have only five soft front tyres. So, we’ll need to manage, and FP1 and FP3 will not count for a lot.”
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