Marc Marquez Discloses Cause of COTA Lead Crash: Brake Issues

When Marc Marquez took the lead for the first time as a Ducati Gresini rider midway through Sunday’s American MotoGP race, his eighth COTA win and first MotoGP victory since 2021 seemed within reach.

But moments later, the eight-time world champion crashed to the ground after suddenly losing the front at Turn 11.

“We have to look at the positive aspects. We fought in the front group, we tried to lead the race. But unfortunately the feeling today was not the best,” said Marquez, before revealing that a front brake problem forced him out. He pushed the handle several times and went into the corners and finally caught it.

“I had a lot of problems with the front brakes. So I said, ‘OK, let’s try to lead the race and see if it gets better.’ But when I got to turn 11, I felt bad again and had to brake 3-4 times.

“That’s why I increased the speed and lost the front part. But apart from that the feeling was good all weekend. We continued to improve, in the warm-up we made a change that helped me too, so I’m happy.”

Marquez had been a key player in the ten-lap battle up to that point, losing his side leg during initial contact with Jack Miller, then being lucky to stay upright when a failed attempt to lead the race resulted in contact with Jorge Martin.

It is impossible to say whether Marquez would have been able to stop Maverick Vinales, who raced from eleventh place to victory, without crashing. But the 31-year-old admitted he was “rushed” after “recovering twice”.

“Unfortunately I went away in the first corner [due to contact between other drivers] and a lot of drivers passed me. So I recovered twice,” Marks said.

“I recovered once, but then I had to slow down a lot to avoid hitting Martin. Then Bagnia overtook me again. That’s why I came back again.

So there was rhythm, there was level and there was speed. This is the most important thing.

“Now we are going to Jerez, we will continue to improve and see what we can do there. Step by step we are getting closer to the guys at the front.”

Marquez, runner-up to Maverick Vinales in Saturday’s sprint, was still the dominant GP23 driver before his crash.

The number 93 has now dropped to eighth in the world championship, 44 points behind Jorge Martin, who finished fourth on Sunday.