Mir fuming at Alex Marquez over “crazy” first-lap Motegi clash

Honda rider Joan Mir was left fuming after being taken out of the Japanese Grand Prix by Ducati rival Alex Marquez on Sunday, in an incident the 2020 world champion labelled “crazy”.

Marquez hit Mir from behind on the first lap at Motegi, resulting in the bizarre sight of the Honda towing the Ducati through the gravel trap after Marquez was thrown out of the saddle.

“When I was in the middle of Turn 12, he hit me massively on the back,” he said. “His bike got stuck between my seat and my swing arm. I went straight to the gravel. I mean, it’s unbelievable. What happened is crazy.

“It’s normal that I am angry. It’s not the first time things like this have happened with him.

“It’s something similar to what happened [between Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia] at Aragon. It’s not exactly the same, but similar. I was clearly in front and [in that case] Bagnaia was trying to overtake. But my bike landed up in the same place as Pecco’s.”

Marquez accepted responsibility for the incident in a post-race statement issued by his Gresini Ducati team.

“I made a mistake at turn 11 that sent me off line. While trying to get back to my position I had a coming together with Mir, which led to the crash. Our bikes tangled together and I apologised to him for what happened.”

Marquez did not, however, agree with the decision to issue him with a long lap penalty after the race.

“We’ll have to perform a long-lap penalty in Australia, even though I disagree with it: seven days ago, at Turn 3 another rider hit me the same way and nothing happened.

“This shows that rules don’t apply the same way to everybody, but it is what it is. We’ll make the most of this lesson.”

Mir, who fell in the Saturday sprint, believes he was on his way to one of the better results of what has been an extremely tough season for Honda.

“I made a good start, I was up to 14th,” he said, having qualified 17th for Honda’s home race. “Then I overtook a group of riders that went wide at Turn 11, so I was very close to the top 10 already.

“I was able to be a lot more competitive than in Mandalika. It was some of the best pace I’ve had all year, but I couldn’t put it all together. Yesterday was my fault and today it was the fault of another rider.”