Breaking news
MotoGP
Marquez: Honda has fixed Austin crash problem
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says his Honda team has resolved an issue that contributed to his costly crash from the lead in the Austin race.
Valentin Khorounzhiy Oriol Puigdemont
Published: May 2, 2019, 4:37 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Marquez was en route to a dominant victory at the American venue, but his perfect record of consecutive wins at the track was tarnished when he fell at the sharp Turn 12 left-hander, exiting the race on the spot.
The Spaniard was left puzzled about the crash in the immediate aftermath – but speaking almost three weeks later ahead of the next round at Jerez, Marquez said he now knew exactly why he had fallen in the GP of the Americas.
"The most important thing for myself is we understand with the team why I crash," he said. "Because I was riding in a really good way, I had a very good confidence with the bike and was difficult to understand, but then after we analysed many many things we understand."
Pressed on what exactly he'd learned about the crash, Marquez said: "Of course in the end it's my fault because I crashed. But during the weekend in Austin I say that 'we have a small problem, we need to fix', and this small problem was there on the race.
"And it's a race track where we have these first-gear corners really strange, and was the first time in the championship [in 2019] that we had this kind of corners, and we had a problem.
"After we deeply analysed with my team, we understand that the crash was coming from something. I cannot say what but was coming from something that I didn't expect because [the problem] was not every lap – was some lap yes, some lap not."
Read Also:
Marquez said Honda had been aware of a problem since the prior race in Argentina and thought it had fixed it in time for Austin, only for him to be ultimately caught out.
He confirmed the issue had to do with Honda's new-for-2019 engine, meaning it was likely related to engine braking in low-speed corners.
"They [Honda] test already with [test rider Stefan] Bradl, and looks like it's fixed, so this is important and it's something that's normal. We are in the third race of the championship - now in the fourth - the engine is new and sometimes [it] happens.
"The most important thing is that after a mistake, after a zero in the championship, we are only nine points behind the first guy [Andrea Dovizioso], so it's nothing, we are there."
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo was likewise a retirement at COTA, pulling over with what Honda later diagnosed as an electrical issue.
Lorenzo said Honda took his RC213V back to base in Japan and was able to replicate the problem.
"They change something on the electronic side to make the problem disappear," he concluded.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mir feels he is already "really close" to Rins
Next article Iannone: Espargaro's bike development approach "not productive"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Marc Marquez
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
6 h
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
Marc Marquez unveils simple plan as he closes in on MotoGP title: "Train, eat, sleep, repeat"
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
Marc Marquez unveils simple plan as he closes in on MotoGP title: "Train, eat, sleep, repeat"
More from
Honda HRC
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
10 h
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Honda names Jake Dixon as Joan Mir's substitute for Qatar GP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Honda names Jake Dixon as Joan Mir's substitute for Qatar GP
Joan Mir says Marc Marquez’s MotoGP rivals couldn’t cope with title pressure
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Joan Mir says Marc Marquez’s MotoGP rivals couldn’t cope with title pressure
Latest news
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
59 min
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe