Marc Marquez will not be given a penalty for the incident in which he was involved during the last corner at the Jerez circuit last Sunday, when he clashed with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, sending him on a wider track and causing the reigning champion to lose the second position in the Spain round.
It looks like the Race Direction took into account similar incidents between Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau and several other occasions when bikes collided but did not crash, and decided that since no penalties of any sort were given then, the Jerez incident was to be treated in a similar manner.
You can review the incident watching the video after the jump and see how Marquez plunged on the inside in a rather hard manner, his trajectory intersecting with that of Yamaha factory rider and reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo.
While some claim that Marquez used Lorenzo to prevent his own bike from running wide, due to the extreme way he decided to enter the last turn, others also say that Lorenzo was either too confident that his rival was too far behind and took the turn too widely, thus leaving half an open door for the Honda rider.
Since it looks like Marquez got the taste of the podium, it was only natural that he tried to squeeze in through the open gap. Lorenzo lost the second position to Marc Marquez, who thus climbed to the leading position in the 2013 season, despite his team mate Dani Pedrosa winning the Jerez round.
Below you can read opinions from several riders on the incident, as they answered MotoGP.com's questions:
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
“It’s the final lap, it’s an aggressive move obviously. I guess if they hadn’t touched Marc would run out of track. So it means he was a little too late on the brakes. But you know - they touched in this certain point of the corner. It was kind of similar to turn one at the start in Austin, but I had time to see him coming. Just hope it doesn’t come again in the next ones.”
Colin Edwards, NGM Mobile Forward Racing
“It’s racing motorcycles isn’t it? You know, any time you’ve got this amount of people and you’ve got the passion….and especially Marquez. We’re in Spain! That kind of thing happens around here, it happens anywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter whose side you’re on – take it or leave it – that’s racing motorcycles.”
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
“I think Marquez was quite aggressive, but I don’t think it was over the limit. But sure we have to just speak in the Safety Commission about that, just to be clear about the rules. I mean, everybody has to know how we can fight. But anyway, it was hard, but I don’t think over the limit.”
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
“It’s a hard attack for sure, and a hard overtake from Marc. He touched Jorge, but it’s the last lap, the last corner, and sure the guy behind tries something. Jorge kept the door open and Marc went inside, so I think it’s something that can happen in racing.“
Current standings in the MotoGP see Marquez in the first position with 61 points, followed by Dani Pedrosa (58), Jorge Lorenzo (57), Valentino Rossi with 43 points and Cal Crutchlow with 35.
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