A packed grid, riders, reporters, special guests, officials and team personnel, final words of encouragement for the young competitors about to do battle at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
The pre-race rituals are well established at this stage and it all adds to the air of expectation that precedes the high-speed drama that's about to unfold.
The murmur coming from the towering main stand grows louder as race time approaches.
For those with a vested interest in a rider or in a team there is an additional nervous anticipation.
Racing at speed is dangerous and accidents happen.
Unfortunately, Alex Marquez had one of the biggest accidents we’ve seen in many years in Sunday’s MotoGP race.
Twelve laps into the scheduled 24, Marquez was second, running in close proximity to race leader Pedro Acosta.
Suddenly, Acosta’s KTM machine lost power. Travelling at around 120mph, Marquez had no time to avoid the slowing KTM. The impact sent the young Spaniard hurtling towards the barrier. The bike broke in two on impact and Marquez was thrown violently along the perimeter of the track.
Medical staff treated the 30-year-old rider for quite some time before he was moved to the circuit medical centre and eventually to the Hospital General de Catalunya in Barcelona.
On Sunday evening his Gresini team confirmed he had suffered "a marginal fracture of his C7 vertebrae" which requires further evaluation. He also has a "right clavicle fracture".
Marquez had an operation to repair his collarbone on Sunday night and was expected to leave hospital on Monday to continue his recuperation at home.
"These sportsmen don't roll over easily."
His brother Marc is the reigning world champion and he also is currently out of action after being injured in a big accident at Le Mans, aggravating a few old ones in the process. The champion had been racing injured since the start of the season, but didn’t inform his team, wary of competitors discovering he was not at 100% of his powers. These sportsmen don’t roll over easily.
Following Alex Marquez’s accident, the race eventually restarted, but not for long. As the reduced field hurtled down towards turn one there was another high-speed coming together.
French rider Johann Zarco left his braking too late and set in motion an accident that also took down Pecco Bagnaia and Luca Marini. Zarco was injured when his leg got trapped between the swing arm and seat of Bagnaia’s Ducati. He too had to be taken to hospital and was lucky to escape with a minor fracture of his tibia.
Another restart was required and the race was eventually won by Fabio Di Giannantonio riding for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 squad. Joan Mir finished second but he was one of five riders hit with a tyre pressure infringement and the resulting 16-second penalty saw him demoted to 13th. That meant Fermin Aldeguer was promoted to second while Bagnaia took third.
Prior to the chaos of the MotoGP race, Ireland's young Grand Prix hope Casey O’Gorman was in action in the Moto3 GP.
The Irish rider qualified 12th, a 12-place grid penalty for a slow-riding transgression leaving him with a mountain to climb from 24th place on the grid. But scale it he did.
He made rapid early progress and just three laps in, he was already up to 12th place. There followed a brief battle with Adrian Cruces before a more intense fight for position with Argentina’s Marco Morelli riding for the front-running Aspar team.
Both riders were intent on reeling in the lead group of eight riders which they eventually did on lap 13.
O’Gorman climbed as high as eighth as positions chopped and changed at almost every turn. He eventually had to settle for 10th place, a mere 1.1 seconds behind the race winner Maximo Quiles.
After the disappointment of crashing out of a rain-affected French GP at Le Mans, it was just the result, or more to the point, just the performance O’Gorman needed, proving 'bounceback ability' is also part of his impressive arsenal.
