Marc Marquez into the wall at Austin: the absence of airfence barriers

A weekend start at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin that was anything but smooth for Marc Marquez. Right away, the 9-time World Champion went down at Turn 10 and, shortly after, slammed into the wall of the run-off area. Fortunately, he escaped without any serious consequences, but he certainly took no small risks.

The rider himself later explained what happened. At Turn 10 he went in a bit too optimistic, almost relying on muscle memory from the recent past. Compared to previous editions of the Austin Grand Prix, however, bumps have formed in that very section that unsettled the bike and, losing the rear with no warning, he crashed and tumbled violently toward the run-off at 200 km/h.

As could also be seen from the TV footage, Marc Marquez literally hit the wall between the run-off and the service road, with no containment air fences set up in that particular section. Marc Marquez himself, in a conversation with Pecco Bagnaia captured by the "Inside Ducati Lenovo Team" format available on Ducati’s official YouTube channel, explained that he had messaged Loris Capirossi (FIM Safety Advisor with MotoGP), asking for clarification about the absence of air fences.

"I hit the wall," exclaimed Marc Marquez. "Is there no air fence at that point?" asked Pecco Bagnaia. His teammate replied: "No, I wrote to Loris (Capirossi) and he told me it would have been worse because in a crash you slide sideways there. I still arrived at an incredible speed—everything just blew up, as you saw!"