Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco’s crashes at Barcelona were not typical, but they were unusual enough to raise some serious safety concerns in the sport. And the sport is listening, as MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta and other members have proposed four potential solutions to address the risks.
The first solution stated was to avoid the horrific crash that Zarco suffered at the infamous Turn 1. Drivers heading at full speed create a bunch-up over there, which is how Zarco got caught up with Pecco Bagnaia and Luca Marini and crashed.
Race-winner Fabio Di Giannantonio had explained how speed plays a big role there, saying, “Starting that far from the first corner, we arrive there with a lot of speed, but not the speed that we are used to arriving at.”
To fix this, Ezpeleta stated, “One [solution] being of course the grid itself, if there’s a chance or a consideration to be taken over leaving more spaces between the riders so they have more space to manoeuvre going into turn 1.”
The way Zarco actually crashed was that his leg got stuck between the rear wheel and the exhaust of Bagnaia’s bike. Which is why the second solution that Ezpeleta wants fixed is, “Just two things on the bikes that we really want to look into. One is protection around that rear wheel, the swingarm area following Johann’s crash.”
Alex Marquez’s crash forced the next solution. He and KTM’s Pedro Acosta were battling for the lead when Acosta suffered a mechanical failure and signaled the riders behind him, but it was too late for Marquez. The Gresini driver collided with his rear and immediately changed the trajectory that sent him off-track, crashing horribly.
To not let an incident like this repeat, Ezpeleta proposed, “If there’s a bike failure like Pedro had, giving some warning to the bikes that are approaching that area.”
“The other one is holeshots in general,” was the fourth solution.
Alex’s crash left older brother Marc Marquez “frozen” who returns to racing
“Well, I experienced the accident at home, naturally I was left frozen in front of the television,” said Marc on Thursday after making his own first appearance since his crash at Le Mans.
“But logically, when something like that happens to a family member, it affects you much more. I had a very bad time all Sunday. On Monday, once I was able to hug him, I was calmer.”
Alex was diagnosed with a broken right collarbone and a small fracture of his C7 vertebrae. The surgery was successful, but he will miss both the Italian GP and the Hungarian GP.
His crash has left an impact on Marc, who is now carrying that learning into his own return at Mugello.
On Friday, Marc’s comeback started slowly as he finished 15th in FP1 (01:47.419), but he showed good pace later in Practice as he briefly held the fastest time of the session. Marc now goes straight into Q2 with a 6th place finish in Practice (01:45.010).
