Marc Marquez of Gresini Ducati has claimed that his accident from the lead at the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix was caused by a “unexpected brake problem” on his bike.
Marquez, dubbed ‘the King of COTA’, had an excellent weekend on his debut with the Gresini Ducati team, qualifying on the front row in third place.
The Spaniard subsequently took seized the lead on Lap 11 with a sensational pass on rookie Pedro Acosta on the KTM satellite GasGas heading into Turn 1.
However, Marquez’s advantage was short-lived as he crashed at Turn 11 on the same lap, blaming a problem with the front brake when he grabbed the bike’s lever.
“Disappointing especially because I was feeling good, I was feeling hard, strong,” he went on to say. “But, certainly, I’m more disappointed today since the speed was there.
“The feeling was there, but I had unexpected problems with the front brake throughout the race, which made it difficult to ride.”
“I was even able to stay in the top group because the pace was slow, and then I attempted to take the lead as soon as possible to see whether the temperature on the brake changed or something.
“And it improved the braking feel.
“But, unfortunately, when I braked on Turn 11, nobody was there [no pressure], and the second time was better, but there was still too much speed, and I lost the front.”
“But the most important thing is I feel competitive and this gives me a good mentality.”
Marquez has asked his Gresini team to address the issue in the next races to prevent losing valuable points when the combination is competitive.
He went on to say, “Based on the data, we realized that there was a problem, and we noticed that I braked twice at the location where I crashed.
“I pulled the brakes, but there was no pressure. Then I pulled again, and it was little better, but there was no pressure.
“So now they have to comprehend. Not only that, but in Turn 12, I braked twice, three times. So, we need to understand what we can do to better in the future.”
