After three Grands Prix contested this season; and before starting a fourth at Jerez which many predict will be the first moment of truth of this year in MotoGP, the Honda troops are still dazed from the blow taken to the head in Austin. A land where Marc Márquez reigned supreme for six years and which was transformed into a dull plain with no less than three abandonments. Two from a fall, and one from a technical problem which is no longer an exception at HRC. Cal Crutchlow takes stock of the HRC leader with a remark that is both admiration and warning…
The RC213V is not an easy girl, but once you have tamed it, it gives complete satisfaction. Cal Crutchlow knows her well and Marc Márquez even better by pushing it to its limits. A special relationship that is not without risk as we saw in Texas. But the fact is that the same Márquez knows how to take advantage of his mount better than his colleagues Crutchlow and now Lorenzo.
The secret of the seven-time title winner? His risk-taking: “ it's strange, because he pushes more during practice than during the race", declares Crutchlow. " In free practice and qualifying, he drives much harder. Maybe because he can't ride that hard in the race to get out of it.”
In fact, Márquez has insisted over the past two years that he uses these sessions to test the limit. The MotoGP world champion thus explained his numerous falls. In 2018, no other driver in the premier category fell as often as him. However, most of the falls occurred during testing sessions, allowing Márquez to better manage the race.
Even after the previous three Grands Prix of the season, the Spaniard is again at the top of the statistics with three crashes. One of them happened during the Austin race, when he was in the lead. Crutchlow also fell during this Grand Prix of the Americas. For the Briton, it was the first accident of the season.
About us Márquez and his appetite for risk, he says on motorsport total : " the rest of us don't want to or can't do what he does.". Especially not without falling. After all, apart from Márquez, hardly anyone is capable of falling like this. But then his fall in Austin came as a surprise. Some accidents cannot even be avoided by a Márquez which also showed that with a little pressure on his shoulders, he was just as crumbly as any other driver...
