Marc Marquez has been declared unfit for Sunday’s Motul TT Assen due to a rib fracture that plagued him during yesterday’s Sprint, where he finished a lowly 17th place.
It will be the second consecutive MotoGP he’ll miss after withdrawing from the German MotoGP at the Sachenring last week, after a crash in warm-up which left him with a hand injury and fractured rib.
Ahead of today’s race, the Spaniard had suggested that racing to win out of the question, and that he was simply looking to circulate ahead of the summer break, which follows the Dutch event.
On social media, Marquez explained:
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Marquez’s luckless 2023 campaign started off strongly with pole position at the season-opening Portugese MotoGP, after a tow from Enea Bastianini, before third in the Sprint behind the Ducatis of Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
The Portimao race saw things sour, with Marquez in a collision with Miguel Oliveira earning him a Double Long Lap penalty that he ultimately would not serve.
The MotoGP Court of Appeal deemed that the Honda rider’s time out of the saddle, due to a hand injury caused during the incident with Oliveira, was sufficient enough that the penalty would not be imposed.
At his return for last week’s German MotoGP, Marquez had missed five MotoGP weekends since Portugal back in March.
Yet the Repsol Honda rider’s comeback at the Sachenring – a track where he had never been beaten in 11 consecutive starts – saw him qualify seventh before finishing 11th in the Sprint.
During Sunday morning’s warm-up in Germany, Marquez crashed the #93 at Turn 7, fracturing a rib, his hand as well as spraining his finger. It was his fifth crash of the weekend.
Ahead of the Dutch MotoGP, Marquez sits 19th in the standings in 15 points, 154 adrift of leader Bagnaia.
The race start will be 14:00 local time/22:00 AEST.
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