Marco Bezzecchi explains costly Thai MotoGP sprint crash

Aprilia MotoGP rider Marco Bezzecchi has explained what led to his crash out of the lead of Saturday’s Thai Grand Prix sprint.

The Italian has been strong all weekend at Buriram and held onto a first pole of the season despite a crash late in qualifying.

In the opening lap of the sprint, he engaged in a heated battle with Marc Marquez, and took the lead from him at Turn 3 on the second tour.

But Marco Bezzecchi fell while going through Turn 8 and was unable to rejoin the sprint.

Explaining what happened, Bezzecchi said: “Well, I’m sorry for this mistake. I was feeling good.

“But the track during the race was a little bit worse compared to the other conditions of the race [weekend].

“But, anyway, this doesn’t make any difference. I made a small mistake, I touched a bit the white line on the inside to try to close the [racing] line.

“I lost the front a bit. I tried to save it, I stayed there, but once I touched the I lost it completely.

“So, small mistake but a big consequence.

“I’m sorry for this mistake, I’m sorry for the team, but at the end, this is racing: I have to try to push, I have to try to make the maximum of what I can and I will do the same tomorrow.”

Marquez pressure not the contributing factor to Bezzecchi crash

Their duel in the early part of the 13-lap sprint on Saturday marked the duo’s first on-track scuffle since their collision at the Indonesian Grand Prix last October.

Marquez exerted a lot of pressure on Bezzecchi in those early laps on Saturday, but the Aprilia says he was expecting this.

“Well, I knew that Marc was going to make this kind of strategy because in the end, I was maybe slightly faster in terms of pace,” he added.

“But, he’s always super strong in battles and I expected him to be strong in braking.

“But I knew also that if I was able to stay a bit more in front, maybe I could make a small gap. Anyway, while I was trying to do this, I made a mistake.”

Bezzecchi will start from pole on Sunday in the season-opening Thai Grand Prix, with Marquez alongside him on the grid.