Marc Marquez, a prominent member of the Honda MotoGP team, has expressed his concerns regarding the increasing number of collisions and injuries in recent races. He believes that these incidents are a combined result of the RC213V's present shortcomings and the 'winner mentality' of riders. After Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP, Honda seemed to have strengthened its roster by signing Joan Mir (to the factory team) and Alex Rins (at LCR). Despite a strong beginning, Mir has faced several crashes, and although Rins has shown flashes of brilliance, including a breathtaking victory at the Grand Prix of the Americas, he has also been inconsistent. With Joan Mir and Alex Rins both pulling out of the Italian Grand Prix due to injuries sustained earlier in the weekend, only Marquez and LCR's Takaaki Nakagami started Sunday's main race for the Honda team.
MotoGP Italian GP: Marc Marquez Mugello Crash and Championship Standing
Marc Marquez's heroic ride came to an end when he crashed while vying for third place, but he escaped the incident without injury. Marc Marquez qualified first and started on the top row of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix.
A strong start came to nothing @marcmarquez93 could hardly believe that he found himself in the gravel at Bucine! #ItalianGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/qLe9mQO1jE
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 11, 2023
There was a lot of pushing and shoving among the top five riders at the start of the race as they headed into the first curve, but Marquez managed to stay in fifth place. Four riders, including Marc Marquez and his brother Alex, as well as Jack Miller and Luca Marini, battled for the lead in the early laps. While battling for third place, Marc and Marini were able to pull ahead by a little margin.
MotoGP 2023 - Rider standings
Pos. | Rider | Num | Points | Team | Constructor |
1 | BAGNAIA Francesco | 1 | 131 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati |
2 | BEZZECCHI Marco | 72 | 110 | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati |
3 | MARTIN Jorge | 89 | 107 | Pramac Racing | Ducati |
4 | BINDER Brad | 33 | 92 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM |
5 | ZARCO Johann | 5 | 88 | Pramac Racing | Ducati |
6 | MARINI Luca | 10 | 72 | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati |
7 | MILLER Jack | 43 | 62 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM |
8 | QUARTARARO Fabio | 20 | 54 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha |
9 | ESPARGARO Aleix | 41 | 54 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia |
10 | VINALES Maverick | 12 | 53 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia |
11 | RINS Alex | 42 | 47 | LCR Honda | Honda |
12 | MORBIDELLI Franco | 21 | 46 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha |
13 | MARQUEZ Alex | 73 | 41 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati |
14 | FERNANDEZ Augusto | 37 | 31 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM |
15 | DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio | 49 | 27 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati |
16 | NAKAGAMI Takaaki | 30 | 24 | LCR Honda | Honda |
17 | OLIVEIRA Miguel | 88 | 21 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia |
18 | MARQUEZ Marc | 93 | 15 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
19 | PEDROSA Dani | 26 | 13 | KTM Test Team | KTM |
20 | BASTIANINI Enea | 23 | 8 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati |
21 | FOLGER Jonas | 94 | 7 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM |
22 | PETRUCCI Danilo | 9 | 5 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati |
23 | PIRRO Michele | 51 | 5 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati |
24 | MIR Joan | 36 | 5 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
25 | SAVADORI Lorenzo | 32 | 4 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia |
26 | FERNANDEZ Raul | 25 | 3 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia |
27 | BRADL Stefan | 6 | 2 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
28 | LECUONA Iker | 27 | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
Unfortunately, on lap six, Marquez lost the front at Turn 15, which sent him out of the race. Despite being severely disheartened, Marquez escaped the crash unscathed. The Spaniard said that 'Honda have riders with a winner mentality' in a post-race interview.
He further said, 'If you put in riders with a winner mentality, and you don’t have the chance to be up there, the problem is that you will crash more and more times because we are pushing more than the others to be on that lap time. And this is what happened. But yeah, I keep going, I keep pushing, and we need to be together and work with the team to change the situation for the future, for these next races, the second part of the season and especially for next year.'
Also Read: Massimo Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO: Happy to take a step back and reduce aero effect | Interview
MotoGP: Honda Kalex Chassis
Honda's decision to debut the Kalex Chassis at the Jerez Test marked a significant shift for the company, which has traditionally preferred to keep motorcycle design in-house.
The Kalex chassis gave a noticeable boost in the Le Mans race last month, but according to Marquez, it wasn't ideal for the tight turns at Mugello. In spite of briefly considering the regular Honda version on Saturday, he ultimately decided to go with the Kalex chassis.
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