Marc Marquez will miss today’s (25 June 2023) MotoGP Dutch TT, due to an aggravation of a rib fracture for the 30-year-old Spaniard.
The rib fracture was initially sustained at last weekend’s German Grand Prix, in the Sunday morning warm-up session, in which he high-sided his way to a fifth crash of that particular weekend.
Coming into this weekend’s Dutch TT, Marquez spoke of his inability to push in the same way he did in the Sachsenring last week, and also of the importance of completing as many laps as possible in order to help Honda’s struggling MotoGP project in the best way possible.
However, two crashes - both at the Ossebroeken part of the Assen circuit - have led to an aggravation of that rib fracture sustained last week.
The first crash came while Marquez was trying to get himself directly into Q2 during Friday afternoon’s P2 session. The failure of that attempt meant Marquez went to Q1, in which he tried to follow Enea Bastianini, but ended up colliding with the Italian when both were going slowly, off the line.
In the MotoGP Sprint which followed, Marquez started 17th, but only got as far as 14th before falling back to the position in which he started. The eight-times World Champion finished almost 20 seconds behind the winner, Marco Bezzecchi.
A brief Repsol Honda press release issued on the morning of Sunday 25 June 2023, the day of the Dutch TT, reads: “Marc Marquez will sit out the Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen after being declared unfit as a result of the injuries sustained at the German GP last week, which have been aggravated further in Assen.”
Marquez’ absence from the starting grid in the full-length Assen race means Repsol Honda’s only representation at the 2023 Dutch TT will be Iker Lecuona, who is replacing Joan Mir - still out with the injuries he picked up in Italy.
The top-placed Honda in the Sprint was the satellite LCR bike of Takaaki Nakagami, who finished 12th. Nakagami’s regular teammate, Alex Rins, is also out of action since Italy, and is being replaced this weekend by Stefan Bradl, who was last of the Sprint’s 22 finishers.
After this weekend, MotoGP enters its summer break, with five weekends off before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
