Miguel Oliveira will have to serve the penalty given to him in Lusail. The Portuguese driver touched Aleix Espargaro in the initial stages of the Sprint of the Qatar Grand Prix, with a contact that earned him a long lap penalty from the College of Stewards.
The RNF Racing driver was supposed to serve it this Sunday, in the long race, but was unable to take part after fracturing his right shoulder blade and being declared “unfit” by the doctors. It has also been confirmed that he will not be able to take part in the Valencia GP and the following Tuesday’s test, pending whether he will be able to recover for the first pre-season tests in February.
Oliveira will have to serve the penalty in the Qatar GP, which will open the 2024 MotoGP season, despite having appealed against Freddie Spencer’s decision. On Monday, the sports commissioners made it official in a statement that they had rejected the Almada driver’s protest.
After paying 1,320 euros to appeal the fine, Oliveira, accompanied by his team’s sporting director, Wilco Zeelenberg, was able to explain his point of view to Spencer, Andres Somolinos and Tamara Matko, the members of the jury.
RNF Racing relied on an analysis of the accident, video footage of the incident, the interview given by Oliveira afterward and the stewards’ previous decisions on incidents that occurred during the season, the panel explained.
However, the stewards chose to take into consideration both the responsibility for the accident and the position and circumstances at that moment of the race (first lap of the Sprint, at turn 6). According to the jury, “the comparison of the data between Oliveira and Aleix Espargaro did not reveal an exaggerated deceleration of the number 41 (Aleix) immediately before the collision point”. Furthermore, the commissioners found that the RNF “did not present sufficient evidence” to reach an alternative decision.
The stewards therefore confirmed the long lap penalty to Oliveira as punishment for this accident in which Espargaro was also injured, fracturing the head of his left fibula. However, the driver from Granollers was able to start the long race in Lusail, thus having the opportunity to serve the six positions of grid penalty that had been inflicted on him for having slapped Franco Morbidelli on the helmet during FP2, subsequently to an argument on the track.
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