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

The eight-time 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 returnꦜ to the pits.

“In a weekend like this▨ one with 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 Port🌠imao, Portugal - Full Qualifying Reꦡsults
• MotoGP Portimao, Portugal - Free Practice (4) Resultꩲs
• MotoGP Portimao, Portugal -ღ Free Practice (3) Results

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

“It’s also true that the Indonesian crash w🎃as 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 concussion by the MotoGP medical team before being allowed to return at the end o𓃲f the session.

“Dr Charte came straight to me and asked two or three questions. He said, ‘where did you crash? Which gear? Which cornerꦰ?’ 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 mo🌄re cautious approach to his track time following the accident.

ꦛ“After that we didn’t make many laps just to avoid the risk. I just did two laps in FP4 and 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 crediteꦅd with pole positꦉion 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.

Withoಌut the yellow flags for Espargaro's accident, Marquez’s cancelled time would have put him fourth on the gri🍃d.

“It’s a bit like Austin, I’m happy with th🐻e speed we showed but again we were unlucky,” he said. “But these things can hap🌊pen, today it impacted my lap time but tomorrow it could affect another rider.”

Looking ahead, Marquez admitted the lack of🌞 any real dry set-up time so far this weekend means Sunday will be a leap into the unknown.

“Tomorrow we need to have a bit of luck𝓀 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 go out and you are struggling, you need to go to finish the race.

“Nobody knows, but I believe that Quartararo and Mir ar༒e two riders that will be fast.”

Espargar🐽o meanwhile will start alongside Marquez, in tenth.

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