Tragedy has hovered over the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the MotoGP race. Àlex Márquez suffered a brutal accident halfway through the race (lap 12 of 24) when his Ducati collided with Pedro Acosta’s KTM as they fought for the lead. The rider from Cervera went off into the gravel, fell violently, and narrowly avoided being hit by his bike and crashing into the wall before turn 10.
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The younger Márquez, who had won the Sprint on Saturday, had to be taken off the track by ambulance but did not lose consciousness and was transferred to the Hospital General de Catalunya. The race was temporarily suspended with a red flag.
To make matters worse, on the second start, another multiple crash with injury to Johann Zarco, and a new interruption of the race with a second red flag.
The start
Acosta maintained the privileged position from pole ahead of Àlex Márquez, but saw Raúl Fernández coming very strong
The start settled an intense and heated duel between poleman Acosta, Àlex Márquez, and Raúl Fernández. The Murcian defended his preferred position well by gaining a few meters, leaving the fight to the Catalan and the Madrid rider, who overtook and re-overtook each other. Raúl took second place at turn 5 and Àlex gave way, having to deal with Zarco, who was coming very strong. Jorge Martín climbed from 9th to 4th at the start but dropped to sixth after being overtaken by Zarco and Morbidelli.
The younger Márquez, Sprint winner, struggled to get up to speed. Overtaken by Raúl Fernández, he was also passed by Zarco and Jorge Martín, who pushed him down to fifth position (lap 3). The Catalan managed to get past the Frenchman and also the Madrid rider (lap 4) to try to connect with the top two, who were 1.5 seconds ahead.
In the front pack of the race, Raúl Fernández surprised Pedro Acosta by overtaking him on the braking into turn 1 at the start of the fifth lap. A real adventure for the Aprilia rider in search of his second MotoGP victory.
Unprecedented duel
Fernández and Acosta watched each other, but Àlex Márquez was sneaking up quietly
While Fernández and Acosta watched each other, and the Murcian took the lead on lap 9 by passing the Madrid rider, Àlex Márquez was quietly closing in on the two.
The Catalan was just 0.2 seconds behind the Aprilia rider at the end of the ninth lap and overtook him at the end of the straight at the start of the 10th lap. He went after Acosta to replay the Sprint duel. He had the Murcian just 0.2 seconds behind.
It seemed that Àlex had the race under control. He was coming from behind with strength, and Pedro could not escape and open a safety gap. The Catalan launched his attack on lap 12 at the end of the straight, braking into turn 1; Acosta defended side by side and stayed ahead, with the rider from Cervera very close. Then came the big scare.
Spectacular accident
Acosta’s KTM unexpectedly slowed down due to an electronic problem and Àlex Márquez ran into him
On that same lap 12, Acosta was ahead before reaching the braking zone of turn 10, racing down the back straight at 210 km/h in third gear, when the Murcian suddenly and unexpectedly slowed down, raised his hand to warn of the electronic problem (discovered by Aki Ajo, from KTM), and Àlex, who was coming very fast from behind, could not avoid him and touched his rear wheel. The Catalan went off into the gravel, lost control of the Ducati, which flew off spinning in the air and almost hit the rider as it fell to the ground.
Àlex narrowly escaped being crushed by his bike. And he was lucky not to hit the wall on the right. By rebound, a detached wheel from the Ducati hit Di Giannantonio, who went down.
Márquez lay in the gravel and race control showed the red flag, suspending the race. After being attended by medical staff, he was taken by ambulance to the Circuit’s medical center. His mother, Roser, went there. The runner-up was conscious, his team reported he was fine and would be transferred to the Hospital General de Catalunya, in Sant Cugat, for a thorough check-up. But he was out of danger.
Panic took over Montmeló, the stands frozen by the huge scare, although it calmed down when race control reported that Márquez was conscious.
Race restart
On the second start, Marini, Bagnaia, and Zarco went down, with the Frenchman injured in a leg after getting caught on the red Ducati
The race resumed at 15:48, with a race scheduled for 13 laps. And the start was again accident-prone. At turn 1, Johann Zarco lost control of his Honda, touched Luca Marini from behind, both went down, and Pecco Bagnaia also went down by rebound. It seemed the multiple crash, common at starts, was not more serious.
But race control again showed the red flag to suspend the race again. There was more: the Frenchman Zarco seemed to have hurt his leg after getting caught on Bagnaia’s red Ducati. The ambulance appeared to attend the Frenchman while the riders returned to the pits.
According to LCR Honda team boss Lucio Cecchinello, Zarco reported pain in his left leg and left knee, but it was not serious nor was there any head trauma.
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The race would restart with a third start and a 12-lap program.
