Alex Marquez’s Catalunya crash will cost him the next two MotoGP races, Gresini Racing has confirmed.
Marquez will miss the MotoGP race in Italy on 29–31 May and the Hungarian Grand Prix on 5–7 June as a result of the injuries he sustained in Catalunya, which include a fractured right collarbone and a C7 vertebra fracture.
The Spanish rider underwent surgery on Sunday evening (17 May) to address the collarbone fracture, but the injuries are too severe for Marquez to return to racing before the Czech Grand Prix on 19–21 May.
Marquez’s absence from Italy and Hungary were confirmed by the below social media post.
30-year-old Marquez had been Ducati’s only race winner before the Catalunya race last weekend after his victory at Jerez in April.
He looked on course to at least challenge for victory in Catalunya, lying second in the race behind Pedro Acosta, who he’d beaten in the Sprint the day before.
However, when Acosta ran into a technical problem exiting turn nine on lap 12, Marquez had nowhere to go and no time to react, and he hit the back of the KTM RC16. Marquez then veered right and rolled heavily along the grass beside the back straight between turns nine and 10.
His bike broke apart as it tumbled through the grass, its front wheel coming out of the bike and hitting Fabio Di Giannantonio’s bike, causing the Italian to fall.
Two restarts later, Di Giannantonio would take the win in Catalunya, becoming Ducati’s second race winner of the season and taking his own second MotoGP win after the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
