Marc Márquez experienced his first crash as a factory Ducati MotoGP rider during the second day of testing at the Sepang Circuit. The crash occurred with just 15 minutes remaining on Thursday, while he was attempting a time attack to improve his position, which was 14th in the day’s standings. After completing a warm-up lap, Márquez made improvements in sectors one and two, but lost control and fell as he approached Turn 9. This was the same corner where Francesco Bagnaia had crashed at the end of the previous season, during his title battle with Jorge Martín. Fortunately, Márquez walked away unscathed from the crash, but he did not return to the track despite having 10 minutes left in the session. This was because his backup bike had been set up for practice starts scheduled for later in the day.
In his previous test with the Ducati team in November 2023 in Barcelona, Márquez had completed 49 laps, covering a total of 229.07 km without falling. His consistency continued into the Sepang test, where he completed 54 laps on the first day and ended up second in the timesheets, behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. The Sepang Circuit, which is 5.543 km long, saw Márquez cover a total of 548.757 km on Wednesday, and by Thursday, he had reached almost 780 km in total when he crashed for the first time while riding the factory Ducati Desmosedici.
- This crash was significant as it marked Márquez’s first fall with Ducati after almost 780 km of testing. This contrasts sharply with his previous year, 2023, when his final season with Honda was marked by an unusually high number of crashes. That season, Márquez suffered a record 29 crashes, largely due to the difficult-to-handle nature of the Honda RC213V. Even his teammate Joan Mir, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion, experienced a tough season, finishing with 24 crashes. Márquez also topped the MotoGP “crash ranking” when he raced a Ducati GP23 for Gresini Racing last year, finishing with 24 crashes for the season. The only rider to surpass him in this statistic was rookie Pedro Acosta, who ended the year with 29 crashes, while Márquez’s 24 were still a major talking point.
Márquez’s performance on Thursday was less impressive than his previous day. His best time of the day, a 1m58.447s, was much slower than his Wednesday lap of 1m57.606s, and it did not fully reflect his potential speed. Throughout the day, he only completed 23 full laps out of the 46 he attempted, with a maximum of three flying laps at a time. On his fourth lap of the day, he set a time of 1m58.648s, and by his sixth run, on his 23rd lap, he had recorded his fastest lap of 1m58.447s.
Later in the session, Márquez completed his longest stint of the day with seven laps. Of those, five were full laps, with times ranging between 1m59.2s and 2m00.0s. Afterward, he ventured out on track several more times, but most of these runs consisted of two flying laps each, with times mainly in the high 1m59s. In his last attempt of the day, Márquez was on track to improve his lap time in the first two sectors but ultimately crashed in the third sector, bringing his testing day to an early end.
Despite the crash, Márquez’s overall progress with Ducati has been encouraging. He had shown good pace in the Sepang test and had completed a considerable amount of distance without major issues until his crash. However, it remains to be seen how he will adapt to the factory Ducati bike and continue his testing program as the 2024 season approaches. While the fall itself was a setback, it was far from being a major concern, as Márquez’s focus remains on getting comfortable with the Desmosedici and fine-tuning his riding style for the upcoming season.
