Alex Marquez Explains Sepang MotoGP Test Crash

MotoGP, Sportrik Media - Alex Marquez says the crash he suffered during Wednesday’s running at the Official Sepang MotoGP Test occurred after fitting a new tyre on his BK8 Gresini Ducati, forcing a major adjustment that resulted in what he described as a small mistake at Turn 5.

The Spaniard is currently going through his busiest pre-season as a Ducati rider, having been promoted to a full factory-spec GP26 for the first time. Overall, Marquez has been encouraged by the base feeling of the bike, although his Wednesday programme was briefly disrupted by the morning incident.

After ending the day 12th overall, Marquez explained that the crash followed a transition from heavily used tyres to a fresh set, a change that delivered a substantial performance gain but required immediate adaptation from both rider and machine.

This morning we had a lot of work testing different things, especially with the medium and used tyres, to understand things.
When I put on the new one, I crashed at Turn 5.

When you go from a very worn compound to a new one, you gain two seconds.
It’s tough, and sometimes even your body struggles to adjust. I made a small mistake.

Marquez also highlighted the complexity of Ducati’s current test programme, which involves evaluating numerous components and making precise choices aligned with individual riding styles.

When you have a lot of items, some ones are better and some ones are not.
In that moment, you need to choose, and it depends on riding style.

We are still trying to understand a little bit about some small aerodynamic tests.
It’s something we still need to improve and understand.

Regarding the latest aerodynamic fairing, Marquez clarified that it was not part of his Wednesday plan, as that evaluation had already been completed during the previous day’s running. Instead, the focus remained on comparing existing aerodynamic configurations.

Overall, the feeling on the bike is good.
Today I didn’t try the new fairing.

It was not on the plan, because that test was already done yesterday.
We tried different aerodynamic combinations, and tomorrow we will analyse everything and choose what is better, or what works a little bit better for us.

Alex Marquez’s explanation places the Sepang crash firmly within the context of pre-season experimentation, where tyre transitions and aerodynamic evaluation push riders to the limit. With the focus now on data analysis and package selection, Gresini and Ducati aim to refine consistency and understanding ahead of the next phase of testing.