© 2024, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc. By Michael Goggis.
“It’s normal,” Pedro Acosta said at the post-Barcelona MotoGP test media briefing when asked why all three starters in the 2025 class crashed before midday on their first MotoGP machine. “They have to learn the wheel.”
Acosta knows firsthand the difficulty of converting from a Moto2 machine to a MotoGP racing bike. In the year Acosta, the only rookie in the 2024 field, led the annual crash report for the MotoGP class, crashing 28 times and saying he struggled to adapt to the control Moto2 Dunlop tires Michelin uses in MotoGP.
Marc Marquez was second with 24, the eight-time world champion often on Earth as a Honda RC213V – the only MotoGP machine he has ridden throughout his career – a 2023-spec Ducati Desmosedici. Marquez In 2023, Honda suffered fewer crashes than Ducati. Despite missing three race days in 2023, the RC213V still crashed 29 times.
The 2023 Ducati proved to be tricky on the 2024-spec Michelin tires, with all of its riders either near the top of the grid or injured in crashes. Marquez’s brother Alex ended the season third in Gresini Racing’s other GP23 with 21 crashes, Marco Bezecic crashed 18 times in his Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing GP23, and teammate Fabio Di Giantantonio missed several races due to crash-related injuries.
Among the full-time riders, Honda’s Luca Marini crashed the fewest times, recording just four crashes in 2014.
Zonta van der Goerberg led the Moto2 class sparks with 18. Davide Almansa and Filippo Farioli top the Moto3 crash charts with 18 crashes each.
A riders mostly entered the Circo de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, with 74 falls over the weekend.
The total number of accidents fell from 1009 to 865, which is the lowest number of accidents since the outbreak ended 0f 2020.
