Alex Marquez cites his MotoGP Qatar crash, “Strange”

Alex Marquez’s difficult Qatar MotoGP came to an early end after an accident at the first turn, although he insisted that he did nothing wrong.

Alex Marquez claims his Qatar MotoGP crash was not his own doing, “I had a really strange crash at the first corner. I suddenly locked the front, but in my opinion, I didn’t make a mistake.”

Marquez, who had previously wrecked three times prior to Sunday’s race, went down one lap after sighting smoke from KTM rider Miguel Oliveira’s bike, which caused Oliveira to fall out as well.

Marquez said, “The objective today was just to finish the race; after the difficult time we had in qualifying, it was important to finish and build up a base. We made a change today from qualifying and the feeling was great.

“I made a really good start and was able to move up into 11th or 12th on the first lap and I was going well and being realistic with my pace. But then I had a really strange crash at the first corner, after the straight, I suddenly locked the front.”

“I saw some smoke coming out of Oliveira’s bike the lap before my crash, but I’m not really sure what happened,” he added.

According to Alex Marquez, riders crashing in front of him made him a bit uncomfortable, but he somehow managed to garner his focus on the track and race only.

Marquez said, “During the race, I saw a couple of riders crash in front of me, so I just tried to stay calm and make sure I finished the race.

“We had good pace, the same as in FP4. I’m quite pleased, it was a little bit difficult on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday we finished in the top 10 and I’m happy to see the team smiling.”

The outcomes of MotoGP 2022 will decide the future of Marquez’s stay as the MotoGP rider in 2023. While it’s evident that his performances need to improve from last year and so far this year, the 2019 Moto2 champion isn’t taking complete blame for his blunder on Sunday.

While Marquez was the only Honda rider not to finish, Takaaki Nakagami finished tenth for LCR. Takaaki Nakagami, like Marquez, needs a good year to stay in MotoGP next season.