Marc Marquez began Saturday at the Dutch MotoGP by saving a massive front-end mome🍸nt in morning practice.

The wet afternoon qualifying session then saw the world championship leader fall on his out-lap, before commandeering a trackside scooter to get back to t💯he pits!

"it was the scooter of Tino, the photographer," smiled Marquez, when asked about the incident in the paddock. "After I fell the first target was to get back to th🧸e box. There was nobody there to take me back and I saw one scooter with the keys in!

"Wh🅠en I turned t✨he scooter around I saw Tino and I ask if I can take it. He said 'ok' - but honestly if he say 'no' I would continue!"

The Repsol Honda star returned on his spare bike to claim fourth on the grid, with a lap time 1.184s from Ducati pole sitter Andrea Dovizioso.

"The scooter and the team did an incredible job because the second bike was [originally] set-up for dry conditions and intermediꩵates. These two things mean that tomorrow I can start on the second row, from fourth position."

Marquez sai🔯d he couldn't explain why he had fallen at such low speed, and fears a repeat should the race be held in similar wet conditions.

"I think if you ask to any rider that crashed [today] they will say 'I don't understand' because the track was very, very slippery," he said. "Maybe it was because I wasn't fully concentrating. I don't know. But I was ri𒐪ding slow just to warm the tyres before I push and I lost the front.

"I know it was a big mistake because at th☂at moment I was last. But I was not pushing. For tomorrow if it🧜's wet race it will be difficult because, like we see in FP4, many crashes."

And what about the massive morning save?

"That moment was a little bit scary and honestly I lost confidence there," he said. "I sta😼rted FP3 with good confidence. Pushing a lot. Good lap time. Good rhythm. Then we tried a different set-up on the bike, but it is not normal to havᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe that kind of 'near crash'.

"From the first point of braking the front wheel locked, then I released the brakes and it was a big moment. After that I lost a lot of confidence. Maybe it was because I was riding with the medium front tyre and everybody else was riding with the soft. For the g𝐆uys that rode with the medium front in the morning - like Lorenzo, Espargaro, me - it was more critical."

Marquez agreed that bumps in the braking area ma𝓡y have been a factor in terms of unloading the tyre.

"Yeah, one of the problems we have this year is that the front always feels a little bit light," he said. "And it's true that at that point it is a little bit bumpy, plus the 𒁏front is a little bit light, at full g♌as in fifth gear.

"On the data it looks like when I first touched the front brake the front wheel was not exactly on the ground. So then I have this big pr𝄹oblem."

The forces generated in the incident were so big th𝓡at Marquez's air✅ bag system was deployed, even though he stayed on.

Marquez starts Sunday's race with a ten point advantage over Jorge Lorenzo, who qualified in eleventh. Valentino R♔ossi, winner last time in Catalunya and last year at Ass🐼en, will start from second place.

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