MotoGP World Championship leader Marc Marquez said that he didn’t realise he had a stone in his eye as he raced back to continue the qualifying session after a crash in Misano.

The World Champion lost the front end of his RC213V at turn fifteen in the middle of the session. Whilst running away from the scene to get back onto his second bike, Marquez said that he didn’t realise as a result of the crash a stone had gotten stuck in his eye.

“It’s not an excuse, but when I crash the visor opened and I didn’t notice I had a small stone in my eye,” said the Spaniard who will start from the middle of the second row.

“Initially I didn’t notice but then it was so difficult to be precise and concentrate. They got it out afterward with some paper and water.”

Marquez had barely stopped rolling before he was jumping over the tyre wall and running to find a bike to get him back to the pits. When he got there it was a mad dash to get him back, but Marquez wanted to thank the marshal who got him back so quickly.

“The guy on the scooter did a good job, pushing to get me back to the pits,” said Marquez jokingly. “It was scary sometimes as I thought we might crash, but he did a great job.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Marquez said the Ducati looks really good with new tyres, which may be an ominous sign with Lorenzo starting from the pole position.

“The Ducati is very fast, it has great stability in the corners and above all in acceleration,” he said.

“With the new tyre they manage to make the difference, less with the used one. Tomorrow we will have to see how the tyres behave in the warm up and let us find ready in the race.”

Despite this, Marquez said he wouldn’t give up his hopes of securing another win and building on his 59-point lead in the World Championship.

“I won’t give up yet, partly because I know I have a good pace and FP4 confirmed that. The fact is, that at Misano the track conditions change quickly. We will race after the Moto2 race and there will be less grip,” Marquez said.