Given the episode of diplopia triggered by the Indonesian spill, there were naturally tense scenes in the Repsol Honda garage when Marquez was pitched into another highside, albeit at a much lower speed, during the wet FP3 s❀ession.

The eight-𝐆time world champion hit his head on the asphalt as he landed, breaking the visor from the side of his helmet, but was able to get back on his bike and return to the pits.

“In a weekend like this one wi🅺th wet conditions, cold conditions, mixed conditions, it’s easy to make mistakes, like nearly everybody did,” Marquez said. “But I didn’t expect to crash there because I was not pushing a lot.

• MotoGP Portimao, 🎶Portugal - Full Qualifying Results
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• MotoꦰGP Portimao, Portugal - Free Practice (3) Results

“Of course, when I decided to come back in Austin, the question to my doctor was, ‘if I land again on my head, what’s going on?’ He said, ‘👍It doesn’t mean every time you land on your𝓡 head it [diplopia] will appear. You will have the same risk as in Austin next year’.

“It’s a⭕lso true that the Indonesian crash was a massive one. Here I landed and hit my head but 🍸nothing happened. I have pain on my neck, but that’s normal.”

Marquez also confirmed that he had been checked for signs of concu🌸ssion by the MotoGP medical team before being allowed to return at the end of the session.

“Dr Charte came straight to me and asked two or three questions. He said, ‘whe𝔍re did you crash🔴? Which gear? Which corner?’ and in Indonesia, I didn’t answer. Today I answered straight away. It’s true that they are much stricter than before.”

Marquez took an even more cautious a🧜pproach to his track time following the accident.

“After that we didn’t make many laps just to🦋 avoid the risk. I just did two laps in FP4 an൲d the time when I needed to push, in qualifying, we pushed,” he said.

Yellow flags for team-mate's fall cost Marquez best qualifying lap

Marquez was briefly credited with pole position during his final lap of qualifying, while using slicks tyres on a tricky damp track, but a fall🐻 for team-mate Pol Espargaro in the final sector saw the lap erased, dropping Marquez to ninth.

W💝ithout the ♒yellow flags for Espargaro's accident, Marquez’s cancelled time would have put him fourth on the grid.

“It’s a bit like Austin, I’m happy with the speed we showed but again we were unluc🎉ky,” he said. “But these things can happen, today it impacted my lap time but tomorrow it could affect another rider.”

Looking ahead, Marquez admitted the lack of any r🧸eal dry set-up time so far this weekend means Sunday wཧill be a leap into the unknown.

“Tomorrow we need to have a bit of luck in terms of tyre choice and base set-up,” he said. “If we are lucky about the base set-up and the tyre choice, then you can approach the race in one way. If you goꦑ out and you are struggling, you need to go to finish the rac🔯e.

“Nobody knows, but I believe t🌠hat Quartararo and Mir are two riders that will be fast.”

Espargaro meanwhile will start alongsi⭕de ♐Marquez, in tenth.

“I lost the front on a wet patch in the last corner,” Espargaro said of the qualifying spill. “That lap was not amazing but it was enougꦕh to be on the second row. I wanted to end that lap and then push on the last ꦰlap, that I didn’t make.”